The No. 5 Oswego State Lakers were able to overcome an early goalie gaffe and a dominant start to the second period from Utica College to become the 2017 Pathfinder Bank Oswego State Hockey Classic champions.

This 4-1 loss was the first time Utica College has dropped a contest this season in which it led after the first period. Oswego State’s comeback now puts them at 2-3-0 on the year when trailing after 20 minutes.

“I’m proud of the character that they showed,” head coach Ed Gosek said. “It was a tough, tough week mentally and physically on them, and I thought they responded well. Last night, I thought Eau Claire was a very good team and Utica is a very good team. So to come away, especially for our seniors taking care of their tournament in their senior year, that’s a special feeling for them. And I’m proud of the effort.”

The Lakers’ first period was not what Gosek wanted out of his club to start the game. Things kicked off with a penalty to Shawn Hulshof just 2:40 into regulation. The Oswego State penalty kill allowed the first goal, although it was pretty much a fluke.

David Jacobson was behind the net playing the puck as the Lakers were killing off the Hulshof interference minor. He turned and fired the puck right to Jarrod Fitzpatrick along the near-side wall. The Utica freshman took advantage of the empty net as each Laker on the ice darted to cover the open cage. The opening goal came at 2:57 of the first period and was Fitzpatrick’s sixth tally of the season.

The Lakers responded well throughout the remainder of the first, but Gosek dubbed his team’s opening period as “flat” in his postgame interview.

“First period tonight is how we played last Saturday against [Nazareth College], just flat,” Gosek said.

Oswego State could not find a way to get a puck by Patrik Virtanen on 12 shots, despite hitting a post, getting a couple of surprising chances from the Chris Watersteert, Cameron Berry and Joey Scorpio line and also a good portion of time on attack after the first period came to a close.

Utica College came out hot to start the middle frame. Oswego State was forced to kill off a 5-on-3 shortly into the period, and the Pioneers led 8-1 in shots at the eight minute mark, seemingly taking control of the game.

Jacobson made 11 saves in the second to keep Oswego State in it. At around the midway point of the game, the Lakers slowly started taking control. At the 14:00 mark they were able to tie the game at one all.

“We we’re being reactionary instead of anticipating,” Gosek said. “Once we start anticipating, we start cutting and moving and guys have options to head man the puck, we’re a much better team. In the first part of the second, we were on our heels and guys were standing around watching, and then reacting to what they were doing instead of taking away their space and their time.”

Oswego State got on the board after Joey Davies was able to deflect Joey Rutkowski’s shot from the point after he and Stephen Johnson connected on a D-to-D pass along the blue line at 14:00 of the middle frame.

The second period came to a close with a 1-1 tie, bringing up a final period to decide a winner of the Pathfinder Bank Oswego State Hockey Classic. Shots were 25-21 Oswego State after 40 minutes of play.

The second line of Hulshof, Davies and Galati continued their impressive game into the third period, and helped the Lakers play their best 20-minute segment of the hockey game.

Hulshof gave Oswego State its first lead of the night just 1:34 into the third period as Davies broke down the side boards and fed one into the slot onto the stick of Hulshof. Matt Galati was given the secondary assist on the go-ahead goal.

Oswego State would pad its lead some more at the 8:29 mark as Matt Galati beat Virtanen on a low wrist shot in the high slot. Davies battled in the corner and got the puck to Hulshof who was able to find an open Galati to make it a 3-1 game.

With 1:32 left in regulation, Utica College head coach Gary Heenan pulled Virtanen for the extra attacker. The Pioneers would then take a timeout with 47.8 seconds left showing on the clock.

The Lakers could have put together a true shutdown line, but Gosek elected to go with the Berry, Waterstreet, Scorpio line to defend the two-goal lead. Waterstreet was able to win the draw, but the Lakers couldn’t get it out as. Berry was able to block Dalton Carter’s shot in the Laker end, and he would then ice the game at the buzzer to give the Lakers a 4-1 win over Utica College.

Oswego State is now 12-3-0 on the year and continue home-ice dominance. The Lakers are now 5-0-0 at home, and are outscoring opponents 19-8 when playing at the Marano Campus Center Ice Arena.

The Lakers will hit the road to play Nazareth College on Saturday at 7 p.m. trying to revenge a 3-0 loss in the Northfield Savings Bank Holiday Tournament on New Year’s Eve.