Tonight saw a bevy of milestones as the Oswego State Lakers were able to defeat the Buffalo State Bengals by a score of 4-3 to improve to 4-1-0 in front a Marano Campus Center Ice Arena crowd of 2,463.

Late goals from Cam Berry and Mitch Emerson proved to be the difference for the Lakers to put a cap on the frenetic third period and escape with the win.

Oswego State controlled the pace of play early on, amassing an 11-7 shot lead through the first period.

The Lakers were able to break through first, just 5:06 into the game. Berry won a faceoff in the offensive zone back to his wing Joseph Molinaro who was able to rattle off a quick shot past the glove of Bengals goaltender Ian Silves for a 1-0 lead.

The wrist shot off the stick of the sophomore was good for the first goal of his Laker career.

Shortly after, the Bengals were able to tie it up when Anthony Passero whiffed on a shot that managed to flutter past Laker goaltender David Richer.

“That first goal was kind of a fluke,” Gosek said. “Our goaltending has been very good and has bailed us out numerous times. But hey, it happens.”

The Lakers regained momentum following the Passero goal, culminating in what they initially believed to be a goal off the stick of sophomore Tyson Bruce that was ultimately waved off by the officials citing goaltender interference.

Josh Zizek drove towards the net and took a shot that deflected off the pad of Silves and bounced onto the stick of a streaking Bruce who slammed it past Silves as he slid into the crease.

The Lakers were finally able to rebound at the 8:43 mark of the third period when Aaron Huffnagle was able to bury a 2-on-1 chance that began with a shot from Zizek, who initially had the puck.

That momentum was destroyed when the Bengals collected their second fluke goal of the night.

Within the last five minutes of the third period, there was a scoring display that had been nonexistent from both teams for the first 55 minutes of the game.

Mac Wood sent the puck into the Buffalo State offensive zone, and the puck caromed off the end boards and towards the crease where it hit the skate of Richer and deflected into the net.

“It happens,” Gosek said. “It was a fluky goal, but overall I thought he played well.”

With just 1:33 remaining, Berry gave the Lakers a 3-2 lead after a finesse play in front of the net.

The junior forward picked the pick off the stick of Bengals defenseman Michael Guerrera right outside of the Buffalo State crease and exhibited impressive patience to wait for Silves to drop before firing the puck into the top of the net.

“As much as I want to take all the credit for it, we were down in their one for at least 30 seconds before,” Berry said. “Molinaro and [Thomas] Horn were on top of them and I just got the opportunity because the defense had a mental lapse and I capitalized. It’s not every game you can have a big goal like that.”

Berry’s composure during that play is something that impressed Gosek, who was proud of his teams resiliency.

“It was impressive,” Gosek said. “I don’t think that he would’ve scored that his freshman year, or last year. I’m proud of him.”

A Mitch Emerson empty-netter and Vadim Vasjonkin 6-on-5 goal highlighted an exciting last minute, that saw the Lakers come out on top.

“We stuck to the process, getting pucks to the net,” Oswego State head coach Ed Gosek said. “I thought our resiliency paid dividends.”

This one goal victory continued the trend that the Lakers have fallen into, not being able to distance themselves from their opponents on the scoreboard.

“Why would we expect anything different than what’s been going on?” Gosek said.

The Lakers will return to action tomorrow night to take on another strong conference opponent in SUNY Fredonia.