Depth was a problem for the Oswego State men’s ice hockey team last season. To combat the issue, head coach Ed Gosek brought in 12 new players, which include three transfers and nine freshmen.

The team lost all but one of its returning players, totaling 34 players on the roster this season. Despite this, the team is still very young. Fifteen of the players are underclassmen, a majority of which are forwards.

Even though the team returned two of its top three scorers, Josh Zizek and Michael Gillespie, the team is looking for more of an offensive pop this year – especially from its defense. The team scored one goal in its last three games of the season after averaging 3.9 goals per game in its first 23 games of the season.

“When we look and compare our Grade-A, the primary opportunities, in those last three games compared to our opponents, the reality is we just didn’t finish,” Gosek said. “We weren’t out-chanced. We weren’t out-grade-A’d. I can’t say we weren’t outworked or out-disciplined, but you have to find a way to get it done, and we didn’t.”

Three of the freshmen, Josh LeBlanc, Robert Clerc and Travis Broughman, all had 30-goal seasons in their last years of junior hockey. LeBlanc and Clerc both came from the Ontario Junior Hockey League, while Broughman came from the Central Canada Hockey League.

All three transfers that the team welcomed are forwards. However, those players are strong playmakers. Anthony Passero, who came from Buffalo State, a SUNYAC rival to the Lakers, had 41 assists in two seasons with the Bengals. Derek Brown, from Div. I Niagara University, is also a smart player with passing, senior Devin Campbell said. Campbell played with Brown at Niagara University.

“Both [Passero and Brown] are going to be incredible additions for us because they play just an intelligent game that every hockey team can definitely use,” Campbell said.

Gosek believes that this class can help some of the issues that the Lakers faced last season, including depth. Last season, the team only had 26 players, which was a problem at the end of last season when faced with injuries and illness. Gosek said he had three players play a lot of minutes at the end of the season, which did not help the team’s performance.

The team had 31 players on the 2016-2017 roster.

“You recruit for depth. Last year, we were a little tight in many areas,” Gosek said. “I think we addressed those needs this year.”

This season, the players have confidence coming into the first exhibition game on Oct. 20 against Nazareth College. Zizek, who is an assistant captain this season, said the players know they all deserve to be on the roster, but they just need the bounces to go their way.

“It’s not an excuse. We were kind of a young team last year. We didn’t know what to expect offensively, defensively,” Zizek said. “We’ve just got to stay level-headed and not let your highs get too high or your lows get too low and know that we’re all good enough hockey players.”

With the young team last year, the beginning of the season was crucial for all players. Senior Cameron Berry, also an assistant captain, remembered the first conference weekend being a turning point in the season. He said the tone for the team was set after the weekend against SUNY Fredonia and Buffalo State on Nov. 17 and 18.

“That was the weekend where we kind of battled back and found some adversity early on,” Berry said. “We came back and kind of came together as a team.”

The season was filled with a lot of personal memories for Gosek, whose wife, Mary, died of ovarian cancer before the season started. Mary was a big supporter of the team and is a primary reason why the TEAL game started at Oswego State five years ago.

Gosek said the team was able to overcome some added pressure with the amount of ceremonies it was a part of when traveling to other teams. A lot of those teams, especially in the SUNYAC, honored Mary in some way.

“There were a lot of distractions that I felt bad that they had to, not be a part of it, but it was hard on them. I could see it,” Gosek said. “Even though we tried not to talk about things, I couldn’t be prouder of the guys last year.”

Out of all of this, all the captains agreed during the press conference on Oct. 8 that the team is ready to come out firing for the regular season, despite any adversities the team may face early on. The true test starts during that exhibition game on Oct. 20. According to Zizek, the team is connected by one concept.

“We’re super close. It’s a brotherhood,” Zizek said. “That’s one of the words we have up in our room. I think that’s amazing about Oswego.”

Photo by Kyle Hurley | The Oswegonian