The No. 2/2 Oswego State Lakers dropped a 2-1 contest to conference rivals SUNY Plattsburgh in heartbreaking fashion tonight’s annual Whiteout game.

This year’s rendition of the Whiteout game featured fundamental hockey, a goaltending duel, and a wild crowd to create one of the most exciting and tense atmospheres that the Marano Campus Center Ice Arena has ever witnessed.

The game began with intense back and forth action, accentuated by a raucous Laker crowd. Both goaltenders were sharp early, to keep the game tied at zero apiece.

Though there was a lack of offense, both teams were able to garner crazy crowd reactions with their physical play, which only added to both teams ramping up the physicality.

As the period continued, Oswego State started to gain momentum off two Cardinal penalties. Jakob Engvall and Pat Egan received two minutes each at different points throughout the period, but the Lakers were stagnant on the power play.

Mustering only five shots during their four minutes of power play, the Lakers were able to use their momentum to carry a 15-6 shot advantage into the second period.

About four minutes into the second frame, Cameron Berry streaked down the wing and managed to get a shot off, in which Cardinals goalie Brady Rouleau deflected the puck to the center of the slot and Jody Sullivan had a golden opportunity and barely missed wide on the far side.

Later in the period, Matt Galati found a wide open Shawn Hulshof on a 2-1 chance and Hulshof deked to his backhand and fired a backhander, only find Rouleau’s left pad in the way.

The Lakers first penalty of the game came on a Sean Federow slash with 2:02 remaining, and Oswego State was able to hold the Cardinals to only one shot and keep them scoreless.

The Cardinals gained a 5-3 man advantage on two Laker penalties to Kristoffer Brun and Berry. With 18 seconds remaining on the 5-3, Philip Middleton was able to bury a wide open shot from the high slot and break the scoreless tie to give Plattsburgh a 1-0 advantage.

Just a few minutes later, the Lakers were able to answer back with a tally of their own. Ayrton Valente took a penalty for a hit from behind, and on the powerplay, Kenny Neil was able to capitalize on a Rouleau rebound from a Joey Davies shot at 10:54 of the third period.

With only 52.5 seconds remaining Valente was able to get off a pass from the corner to the front of the net to the stick of Matt Quilty to was able to net a five-hole tap in past Jacobson to seal seal the game for the Cardinals.

This contest marked the first one the Lakers dropped this season in Marano Campus Center, bringing their home record to 8-1, their conference record to 11-2-1 and their overall record 16-4-1.