Last Night

On home ice last night the No. 5/5 Oswego State Lakers picked up two conference points in a 5-1 win over the SUNY Cortland Red Dragons, pushing the Lakers into sole possession of first place in the SUNYAC. The win also gave Oswego State head coach Ed Gosek the 300th win of his career. For No. 9/14 Utica College, the Pioneers knocked off Nazareth College on home ice by a score of 5-2, moving their record to 13-3 on the year.

Storylines

Former Oswego State defenseman Joey Rutkowski sat out this past fall semester due to injury and transferred over the break to be closer to home at Utica College. This afternoons contest will be the first time the sophomore defenseman will face off against his first collegiate team.

This weekends schedule mirrors the first weekend of the season for Oswego State, when they played an evening game on home ice against Nazareth College and followed it up with an overtime loss the next afternoon against Hobart College. All three of the losses suffered by the Lakers this season have come on the tail end of back to backs.

Stat Line

OSW (team)

GF- 61

GA- 31

GPG- 3.8

SH%- .108

Assists- 102

OSW (individual)

G- Zizek (10)

A- Zizek (13)

P- Zizek (23)

GAA- Richer (1.69)

SV%- .929

UTI (team)

GF- 74

GA- 29

GPG- 4.6

SH%- .113

Assists- 140

UTI (individual)

G- Ammirato (14)

A- Carter (13)

P- Ammirato (24)

GAA- Virtanen (2.00)

SV%- Virtanen (.931)

Prediction

These are two ranked teams, but their playing styles cold not be any more different. The Pioneers have a high powered offense that is used to overpower opponents. The Lakers, who have progressed past their early season struggles, have yet to be able to really blow out any opponent with their offense. Oswego State wins games through solid defense and goaltending and they have proven they can keep some of the nations top teams contained such as Hobart College and SUNY Geneseo. Especially after Gosek collected win 300 last night, it is hard to bet against him. This is a matchup of two teams with different defensive styles and traditional wisdom says defense always comes out on top.

Oswego State wins 2-1.

Lineups unavailable at the time of publishing.