Last Meeting

The Lakers were beaten 3-0 by the underdog Nazareth College Golden Flyers in the last meeting between these two teams. Nazareth College was able to sit on a two-goal lead, despite taking nine penalties in 60 minutes. A lucky bounce and a breakaway tally was too much for the Lakers to overcome in the first of two meetings this season. Oswego State’s power play unit was unable to capitalize on special teams to crawl back into it. The Golden Flyers then sealed it with a late shorthanded marker with Matt Zawadzki pulled.

Nazareth College was also able to win last season’s matchup, 3-1. George Roll, the head coach of the Golden Flyers and former bench boss of Oswego State, coaches a defensive-minded team that seems to have the Lakers’ number as of late.

Greasy Goals

The Golden Flyers were able to block 22 Oswego State shots on New Year’s Eve. Getting to the front of the net to get chances from in tight will be key for the Lakers tonight against this team that waits for teams to make mistakes. Screens in front and hard work to get to the dirty areas are key for any team, but even more so for the Lakers tonight after they were given nothing from the outside last time out against Nazareth College.

Lineup Card

Devin Campbell will make his Laker debut tonight. As a freshman, Campbell led the team in shot blocks with 34. The Div. I transfer comes from Niagara University as a sophomore to help add depth to the Oswego State defense that only had two extra defenseman to this point.

Trent Durocher, Aaron Huffnagle and Eric Lipa will draw in for Joey Scorpio, Jody Sullivan and TJ Sneath, respectively.

The line of Shawn Hulshof, Joey Davies and Matt Galati will stay together after a a fantastic showing in the championship game of their home tournament. Each scored a goal against Utica College and tallied a combined six points in the 4-1 victory.

In the Crease

Zawadzki was slated to start the lone game this weekend after dropping both contests in the holiday tournament. He still owns a spot in the goalie rotation with numbers that rank him in the top four of ever major goalie statistic in the SUNYAC.

He’s currently 5-2-0 with a .914 save percentage and a 1.86 goals against average, which is second best in the conference behind only Buffalo State’s Mike DeLaVergne.

Andy Lee will start for the Golden Flyers. The freshman has appeared in only three games this season. In those three contests, Lee has a 4.34 GAA and a .812 SV%. This is the second game this year the Lakers have not faced the starter for Nazareth College, Brandon Lane.

Players to Watch

OSW: Devin Campbell

As previously mentioned, Campbell led Niagara University in shot blocks as a freshman. He should bring a steady defensive game without much offensive upside. Gosek noted earlier this week they tried to recruit Campbell prior to his Div. I commitment. Campbell’s first time out as a Laker should show where he fits in as he replaces Joey Rutkowski in tonight’s lineup.

NAZ: Justin LaCorte

The senior forward has six goals and no assists in 16 games this season. He was kept off the scoresheet until he was able to ice the game with the empty netter in the 3-0 win over Oswego State this season. He opened the scoring in the second game of a back-to-back with SUNY Potsdam last weekend as well.

His six goals puts him second on the team in goal scoring for a team that struggles to be able to put pucks in the back of the net. He will need that scoring touch tonight against one of the most solid defense cores he will see all season.

By the Numbers

Record

OSW: 12-3-0/8-1-0 (No. 4) [1st in SUNYAC]

NAZ: 5-9-2/4-2-0 [T 2nd in ECAC Men’s West]

Shots per Game

OSW: 34.8

NAZ: 32.5

Goals per Game

OSW: 4.27 [2nd in SUNYAC]

NAZ: 2.69 [8th in ECAC Men’s West]

Goals Against per Game

OSW: 1.92 [2nd in SUNYAC]

NAZ: 3.06 [T 3rd in ECAC Men’s West]

Power Play

OSW: 17-70 (24.3%) [5th in SUNYAC]

NAZ: 11-102 (10.8%0 [8th in ECAC Men’s West]

Penalty Kill

OSW: 61-72 (84.7%) [1st in SUNYAC]

NAZ: 71-90 (78.9%) [7th in ECAC West]

*Overall statistics from collegehockeystats.net

Game Prediction

Oswego State was unable to generate quality chances in the scoring areas during the 3-0 loss in Vermont, according to head coach Ed Gosek. Roll and his staff will have to hope their roster will be able to hold the same team that averages over four goals a game off the scoreboard for the most part in this contest.

A bad Nazareth College power play is also a factor in this one. The Golden Flyers are seeing absolutely no production on the man advantage unit, which is 0-28 over the last five games. This includes an 0-8 mark last time out against SUNY Potsdam.

A team that struggles to score as it is needs the power play to be deadly, and these two units have been the exact opposite over this last stretch. It is hard to see the Golden Flyers being able to knock off the Lakers again tonight, especially after Oswego State won its home tournament with two wins over two top teams in Div. III this season.

Lakers win 4-1