The №5 SUNY Fredonia Blue Devils advanced to the SUNYAC title game following a stunning 3–1 upset over №1 Oswego State at the Marano Campus Center Ice Arena tonight.

The Blue Devils will trek to the Ira S. Wilson Ice Arena to take on the SUNY Geneseo Ice Knights for the right to become SUNYAC Champions next Saturday night.

The fifth seed earned their way to the title game on the heels of two first period goals just 11 seconds apart that sunk Oswego State and potentially ended the Lakers season.

Josh Biasillo and Jacob Haynes scored nearly identical goals in the first period on Oswego State goaltender David Richer, putting SUNY Fredonia in the drivers seat for the remainder of the contest.

“You have to give them credit,” Oswego State head coach Ed Gosek said. “Tonight, for whatever reason, we just looked out of sync a little bit. Whether we just squeezed our sticks a little too tight or had not scoring a goal on our minds, those quick back to back goals took the life out of us.”

The lack of goal scoring Gosek was referring to was the seven period scoreless streak Oswego State suffered through coming into tonight and continued until the 4:26 mark of the third period against the Blue Devils.

After Kyle Jelinski was able to give SUNY Fredonia a 3–0 lead late in the third period with a snipe off the crossbar past Richer, Mitch Emerson gave the Lakers a little bit of hope with an early third period goal.

Emerson’s tally broke the 0 for 19 scoreless streak the Lakers had on the power play before Sam Wilbur’s hooking penalty, but it was the only time Oswego State was able to capitalize on their five man advantages tonight.

Now, Oswego State will continue practicing while they wait to see the results from conference playoffs all around the country to see what their fate will be for a second consecutive at large bid to the NCAA tournament.

With no game next weekend, the Lakers will be watching how all the top seeds fare, because if there are less teams with a similar resume to theirs, the likelihood they get into the tournament remains high.

An interesting tidbit of information from tonight’s contest is the last time Oswego State fell to SUNY Fredonia in the SUNYAC semifinals was during the 2006–07 season. The Lakers went on to receive an at large bid and rattle off three straight wins on their way to a national championship.