This past weekend, the Oswego State club men’s roller hockey team competed in Fargo, North Dakota, for a chance to win its first national championship. The season started the weekend of Oct. 7 in Feasterville, Pennsylvania, with three exhibition games. Oswego State started the regular season off fairly well, winning two of three at the Grove City, Pennsylvania, tournament.
Because many teams do not have access to roller rinks, the sport is dependent on weekend tournaments. The Lakers are one of these teams that do not have access to a rink, so they only had four practices, with their first during winter break.
“You can really [see] the disadvantage we had over other teams,” captain Jack Tofallos said. “We don’t move the puck nearly as well [as other teams.]”
Despite a lack of practice, the Lakers finished above .500 with an 11-9 record because of a strong run during the second half of the regular season after starting the season 5-6. After the first nine games of the season, the Lakers had allowed 54 goals, 4.91 per game. In the final nine games of the season, the Lakers shaved 1.35 goals off their average as they gave up 3.56 goals per game.
“The practice helped us a ton [for the games after winter break,]” Tofallos said. “We got [goaltender Michael] Boyd back. He did not play for the first semester. He is a big locker room guy and is a big reason why we went to nationals last year, this year too.”
The improved defense coincides with the return of Boyd. He helped propel the Lakers to the National Championships, as they shot up the standings to seventh of 13 teams in the Eastern Collegiate Roller Hockey Association.
“The defense did not really do anything different [during the second half of the season],” Boyd said. “Just having a veteran presence behind them gave them that much more confidence. They just [knew] what to do rather than thinking about it.”
Despite a strong push to end the season, the Lakers missed the regional playoffs. Oswego State had to wait a month for the selection show to see if its resume was strong enough to earn it an at-large bid. Fortunately for the Lakers, they received a bid in the tournament and were going to nationals.
“It was just crazy,” Boyd said. “We worked so hard and we ended up missing out on regional playoffs, [but] we believed we could compete nationally and deserved to be there.”
This time, however, the expectations the Lakers put on themselves stretched far beyond a nationals birth.
“Last year, we were not expecting to make the playoffs, but we did,” Tofallos said. “We went on a run [during the playoffs,] so we thought ‘OK, maybe we could do this again next year.’ We had high hopes, [and although we missed the playoffs,] we always expected to get back to nationals after last year.”
Because last season was the first nationals appearance in the history of the program, the Lakers had low expectations. On the other hand, this season was the year the Lakers wanted to take the next step.
“Last year, Fort Myers [where nationals was held,] felt more like a vacation than a hockey tournament,” Boyd said. “This year, the moment we practiced, it was nationals or bust.”
Fast forward to this past weekend, and the Lakers were battling some of the best teams in the nation. Despite losing their first round robin game 6-2 to Endicott College, the Lakers dominated their final two opponents. They took down the University of Akron by a score of 8-1. It was a relatively quiet game for Boyd, as he only faced 10 shots. In their next game, the Lakers took on Sam Houston State University and defeated them 6-4.
With two round robin wins, the Lakers had a bye during the play-in games and were scheduled to play No. 1 Northeastern University in the Sweet 16. Unfortunately for Oswego State, their run ended here, as the Huskies won 1-0 en route to their second championship game in two years.
“Northeastern is a team we’ve always had trouble with,” Boyd said. “But in order to win a national championship, you have to play some really good teams, and why not go up against the number one team in the country?”
Photo provided by BC Photography
