The Oswego State women’s ice hockey team will be hosting its seventh annual Pink the Rink weekend on Saturday and Sunday against Buffalo State.

This weekend will be about more than just hockey.

It will be about giving back to the community and spreading awareness about breast cancer so, eventually, breast cancer will be no more. Giving back to the community and spreading awareness is something that the team and their coaches feel is important, including senior forward Alexa Aramburu.

“I think that it’s very important to get the community aware of breast cancer and that we do more as a team to support these causes and support these organizations rather than just play to play,” Aramburu said. “We play for a bigger reason and we really want everyone to come together by spreading awareness of not just breast cancer, but ovarian cancer and, in general, just spread awareness of this cause.”

Overall, this weekend means a lot with Buffalo State coming to town. The Lakers will look to accomplish a successful weekend not just by spreading awareness and giving back to the community, but getting two big wins as well.

“I think that this weekend means a lot and is important,” senior captain Alli Ullrich said. “Buffalo State is right next to us in the standings, and we need to spread awareness for breast cancer so there certainly is a lot going on this weekend.”

Spreading awareness this weekend is a top priority, but connections to the Buffalo area are engrained in the Lakers’ dressing room too.

“A lot of people on our team are from Buffalo,” senior defenseman Alyssa Brockmann said.  “I have a lot of family from Buffalo, so just in general playing Buffalo State is huge for us, it’s always a great rivalry. We seem to always play great games against them, and its an exciting weekend to not only play for the community but give back as well.”

These two teams have not played each other since Oswego State knocked Buffalo State out of the playoffs last year.

Ullrich said she had fond memories about that herself.

“It will be exciting since last year we knocked them out of the playoffs,” Ullrich said. “That game was so fun to play in and such a great feeling afterward so it’s going to be nice to get another shot at them.”

Although the team is looking forward to the matchup, head coach Diane Dillion was quick to point out that Buffalo State “will definitely have revenge on their minds come this weekend.”

This weekend is something that Dillon cares about fondly as she remembers the inception and idea of Pink the Rink weekend and also the team’s partnership with Colleges Against Cancer.

The Oswego State women’s ice hockey team got involved with Colleges Against Cancer after Dillon was approached by Oswego State student Carly Babcock, an employee at the ice arena and the president of the Oswego State chapter of Colleges Against Cancer, Dillon said.

“One day she actually approached me and said we have this group on campus and discussed that and I said we would love to help and that’s how it started,” Dillon said. “It was a student organization stepping up and doing the things they do well. We were thrilled with the opportunity to work with an Oswego college group.”

Dillon said Babcock will be doing the ceremonial puck drop before Saturday afternoon’s game.

The team is auctioning off one of its pink jerseys to help support Colleges Against Cancer and help spread awareness to put an end to breast cancer. These pink jerseys will be worn for both games on both Feb. 10 and 11 against the Bengals. Fans can place bids on the jersey, which is  number 17 this year. The bidding starts at $100 and raising in increments of $10 for the donations. The bidding ends at noon on Wednesday, Feb. 15.