The No. 2/3 Oswego State Lakers closed out their regular season tonight with a —— win against the No. 13 Buffalo State Bengals. The Lakers honored their 12 seniors in a post-game ceremony for the annual senior game.
The Lakers already clinched the SUNYAC regular season title with last night’s 2-1 win over SUNY Fredonia, so this game was all about revenge for December’s 5-1 loss at the hands of the Bengals.
The highlight of tonight’s game was Kenny Neil, who celebrated his senior night with an incredible four goal performance. The Clarenville, N.L native netted his 13th, 14th, 15th, and 16th goals of the season on the evening.
Tonight saw Matt Zawadzki return from a lower-body injury suffered during a contest against SUNY Potsdam on Feb. 3.
Zach Remers of Buffalo State suffered an injury just 12 seconds into the first period, resulting in him leaving the game. The injury resulted in Remers being stretchered off the ice and a long pause in game action.
Just 27 seconds later, the Lakers were able to get on the board first with the help of two seniors. Kenny Neil was able to find Barton in front of the net with a backhand pass, and Barton was able to finish the feed past Buffalo State netminder Mike DeLaVergne.
The early injury to Remers and the quick goal off the stick of Barton led tempers to flare for both teams, with intense physical games being played by both the Lakers and Bengals right off the bat.
The period featured spectacular goaltending on both ends, as Zawadzki and DeLaVergne made highlight reel save after highlight reel save to preserve the score at 1-0.
The period ended with a 1-0 Lakers lead on the scoreboard and a 10-4 lead in the shot department.
Kenny Neil and Cameron Berry scored just 1:08 apart early in second period to put the Lakers up 3-0.
Neil was able to dance his way around the front of the net and bury a shot behind DeLaVergne just 1:12 into the period. On the next shift, Berry was able to put a Waterstreet rebound five-hole to boost the lead to three.
Buffalo State was able to draw within two goals on a Jonathan Colley goal at 13:23 of the second period. Colley found himself alone in front of a wide-open net after Zawadzki had lost his balance after making a save on a shot from the point.
With just 2:58 remaining in the second, Neil struck again. He netted his second of the night, his second on the power play, with a rocket over DeLaVergne’s blocker from the bottom of the circle. His goal gave the Lakers a 4-1 lead, and led to DeLaVergne being pulled from the game.
With arguably the best goalie in the SUNYAC benched in favor of Andrei Svistunov, a freshman with only two games of experience, the Lakers found themselves with a distinct advantage for the remainder of the game.
The second period saw an abundance of penalties from both squads, with four from Oswego State and five from the Bengals.
The second period ended with the Lakers up 4-1, and holding a 22-8 shot advantage.
To start the third period, David Jacobson entered the game in relief for Zawadzki, who made 7 saves on 8 shots. The team did not specify a reason for the switch by the time of publishing.
Neil shored up his hat trick early in the third period, to stretch the Laker lead to 5-1. Neil found himself carrying the puck down the wing on a 2-on-1 with Stephen Johnson streaking down the opposite side of the ice, but decided to keep it for himself and roof a heavy wrist shot past Svistunov.
Not shockingly, Neil scored again off a rebound at 14:21 of the third period to give the Lakers a 6-1 lead, that they would preserve for the remainder of the game.
The Lakers finish their regular season with a 20-4-1 record, with a 13-2-1 record in the SUNYAC.
Oswego State’s next game will be in the SUNYAC semi-final at Marano Campus Center next Saturday night against the lowest remaining seed in the playoffs.
