The Oswego State men’s hockey team has clinched the No. 1 seed for the SUNYAC playoffs for the second straight season. The team took sole position of the first-place team in the SUNYAC after a 4-2 win over SUNY Geneseo on Feb. 9 at the Marano Campus Center Ice Arena.

Last season, while the Lakers were the No. 1 seed, they lost to Plattsburgh State in the SUNYAC championships by a score of 3-2. The team also lost to the Hamilton Continentals in the first round of the NCAA Div. III men’s ice hockey championship. While head coach Ed Gosek does not know the answer to what changes need to be made, he is well aware that something different needs to happen.

“Every year is different,” Gosek said. “I wish I had an answer on how we’re going to approach it. We certainly don’t want the way it turned out last year.”

The Lakers were not able to figure out Plattsburgh State’s goaltender Brady Rouleau or Hamilton College’s Evan Buitenhuis, who was named national player of the year for Div. III hockey. Gosek said they had plenty of “grade-A opportunities” against both teams, but could not convert against the two strong netminders.

“It’s not that our goalies were bad. It was that their goalies were very good,” Gosek said. “[Plattsburgh State] was playing well as a team then. We have to find a way, and we didn’t, and they got the job done.”

The road to clinching the No. 1 seed this season was not easy for the Lakers. It was a question how the team would perform with such a young roster after losing a large senior class after the 2016-2017 season.

“Other than being consistent with the rotation, we didn’t really change anything,” assistant coach Mark Digby said. “We didn’t really adjust anything. We knew we were going to have to be good defensively. I think we played that way as a team early on, which helped them build confidence.”

Throughout the season, it was a fight with SUNY Geneseo to determine who would come out on top in February. However, throughout a majority of the season, Oswego State had a couple of games in hand on the Ice Knights in the SUNYAC standings.

Oswego State was able to get an edge on SUNY Geneseo after a 2-2 overtime tie on Dec. 1 at the Ira S. Wilson Ice Arena. While the Lakers only had eight points compared to the Ice Knight’s 11, the Lakers had two games in-hand over them.

Buffalo State was also entered into the mix of the potential No. 1 seed during the season. While Oswego State took two points from the Bengals on Nov. 17 in a 4-3 victory, the Bengals were able to win eight of their nine next SUNYAC matchups before the Lakers traveled to Buffalo on Feb. 2.

At the beginning of each season, Gosek keeps his goals for the team “very generic” so that pressure does not amount too high for his team to handle.

“[I tell the team] we’d like to secure home ice for the playoffs,” Gosek said. “Anytime that you can play in front of your own fans and keep your normal routine, that’s a positive.”

The Lakers clinched the No. 1 seed with three regular season games left. They traveled to The College at Brockport on Feb. 10 and won 4-1. They still have the SUNY Potsdam game on Feb. 16 and the intense rivalry Plattsburgh State contest on Feb. 17.

“All we’re worried about is Potsdam on Friday night,” Gosek said. “We’re not worried about standings or rankings. Our focus is on Potsdam and playing better hockey. We know we’re facing two teams that are trying to place themselves in the playoffs.”

Despite knowing they have clinched the No. 1 seed, Gosek does not talk about it in the locker room with his team and instead he lets the team focus on the end of the regular season.

Along with clinching the No. 1 seed for the SUNYAC playoffs, the Lakers have also stayed consistent in the USCHO and D3hockey polls, and currently sit at No. 3 with USCHO and No. 4 with D3hockey. They trail Adrian College and St. Norbert University on the USCHO poll.

Oswego State, as of Feb. 13, has also been giving the No. 1 ranking for the men’s NCAA regional rankings for Div. III. They are right above Salve Regina University.

“We don’t discuss the rankings. We don’t discuss being first in our league,” Gosek said. “We don’t discuss winning. We discuss the things we need to do to make us successful.”

Before the Lakers take the bye-week for the play-in round of the SUNYACs, Oswego State must handle the SUNY Potsdam Bears and Plattsburgh State Cardinals for the annual Whiteout Weekend. The game against the Cardinals will also serve as the senior game for the team. They graduate three seniors this year, including captain Mitchell Herlihey.

“It’s just another win, but we have a chance to finish our conference undefeated,” Herlihey said.  “Plattsburgh always comes here and plays a good game, so we’ve got to be ready for that.”

Photo: Greg Tavani | The Oswegonian