After gaining two more conference points in a win against The College at Brockport, the No. 6/8 Oswego State men’s hockey team (5-1-0, 3-1-0 SUNYAC) is travelling to the No. 2 SUNY Geneseo Ice Knights (10-1-1, 5-1-1 SUNYAC) for another SUNYAC matchup.

Last Time Out

Oswego State

On Nov. 30, the Lakers returned to home ice at the Marano Campus Center Ice Arena for the first of two regular season meetings against The College at Brockport. The Golden Eagles were coming off a three-game win streak heading into the game. The game was very physical and penalty-filled, especially late in the game. The Golden Eagles even suffered a five-minute major interference penalty that coincided with a game misconduct with 5:10 left in the third period.

Oswego State pushed the pace of the game early, scoring three goals in the opening period — two of which came on the power play, which went 3-6 on the night overall. Tanner Spink, Travis Broughman (PP) and Mitch Emerson (PP) opened up scoring in the first period. Devin Campbell, with the first goal of his collegiate career, scored in the second period. Joseph Molinaro, who had a hat-trick at Buffalo State, scored on the power play as well in the third period.

Despite allowing two goals, David Richer stopped 13 of the 15 shots he faced. The defense, both at even strength and on the penalty kill, was strong all game. Oswego State stopped all five penalty kills it faced, and only allowed three shots on goal in the first period.

SUNY Geneseo

Also on Nov. 30, SUNY Geneseo won its seventh-straight game in a 2-0 SUNYAC win over SUNY Cortland. The Ice Knights threw 48 shots on net against SUNY Cortland’s Nick Modica, who stopped an impressive 46 of them. Devin McDonald stopped all 17 shots he faced. The offensive side of special teams had no impact on the game, as SUNY Geneseo went 0-4 on the man-advantage. McDonald has played in 11 of the team’s games this season.

Andrew Romano scored both of SUNY Geneseo’s goals, the first at 12:01 of the first period and the second at 12:38 of the third period. He currently leads the team with 23 points.

Lakers and Ice Knights History

Compared to the dominating record that Oswego State had over The College at Brockport, the record between the Lakers and Ice Knights is a little closer, especially in the last five years. However, the Lakers still have a 61-26-5 record over the Ice Knights, and a 27-14-4 record while at the Ira S. Wilson Ice Arena at SUNY Geneseo. The first game between the two teams came on Dec. 4, 1977 — almost 41 years to the day — and Oswego State won 10-3 at Oswego. SUNY Geneseo’s first win against Oswego State came on Jan. 15, 1985, at Geneseo when the Ice Knights won 7-2.

Last season, the Lakers went 1-0-1 against the Ice Knights. The first game between the two teams came on Dec. 1, 2017 — a year to the date of today’s game — and resulted in a 2-2 overtime tie. Oswego State was ranked No. 5 in the nation, and SUNY Geneseo was ranked No. 6/7. Josh Zizek, with assists from A.J. D’Orazio and Aaron Huffnagle, and Michael Gillespie, with assists from Mitchell Herlihey and Zizek, both scored for Oswego State. Cam Russell and Tyson Empey, on the power play, both scored for SUNY Geneseo. David Richer and Devin McDonald both played all 65 minutes of the game. Richer made 24 saves and McDonald made 27.

The second game of the season at the Marano Campus Center Ice Arena saw then-No. 4 Oswego State win 4-2 over then-No.7 SUNY Geneseo. D’Orazio, Herlihey, twice, and Cameron Berry (PP) all scored for the Lakers. Conlan Keenan and Duggie Lagrone both scored for the Ice Knights. Devin McDonald made 10 saves in net, and David Richer made 21 saves in net, including a 12-save third period.

By the Numbers

RECORD (conference) [vs. each other]

OSW: 5-1-0 (3-1-0) [61-26-5]

GEN: 10-1-1 (5-1-1) [26-61-5]

GOALS (per game)

OSW: 25 (4.2)

GEN: 65 (5.4)

SHOTS (per game) [shot percentage]

OSW: 170 (28.3) [14.7%]

GEN: 498 (41.5) [15.6%]

POWER PLAY (percentage)

OSW: 11-32 (34.4%)

GEN: 20-69 (29.0%)

Players to Watch

OSW: Devin Campbell

While Devin Campbell is a defenseman, he is not expected to be the main goal scorer for the Lakers. But, off the ice, he is a true leader being named captain this season, bringing high morale and motivation to the team. Against The College at Brockport, Campbell scored his first goal of the season. Better yet, it was the first goal of his entire collegiate career, between the year-and-a-half at NCAA Div. I Niagara and his current time at Oswego State. He also posted an assist in the game against the Golden Eagles. He now has four points (1g, 3a) this season. Expect him to come out firing against a strong SUNY Geneseo team, between scoring his first goal as well as motivation for the team.

GEN: Andrew Romano

The junior class for the men’s hockey team at SUNY Geneseo is strong as its top three scorers all came from that class. However, Andrew Romano has 23 points in 12 games, including two goals against SUNY Cortland in the Ice Knights most recent game. He has a team-leading 18 assists and three game-winning goals. Romano is averaging 1.9 points per game, and has registered at least one point in every game this season, including four in the 7-1 win against Elmira College on Nov. 20. He also has no penalty minutes. While there are a lot of strong players on the SUNY Geneseo team, Romano will be a player to watch after his two-goal game against SUNY Cortland.

Lines (provided by Oswego State athletics)

Forwards

No. 14 : Jody Sullivan | No. 10 : Cameron Berry | No. 27 : Josh Nenadal

No. 19 : Joseph Molinaro | No. 21 : Aaron Huffnagle | No. 8 : Derek Brown

No. 7 : Tanner Spink | No. 13 : Josh Zizek | No. 16 : Michael Gillespie

No. 9 : Mitch Emerson | No. 11 : Anthony Passero | No. 28 : Travis Broughman

Defense

No. 2 : Carter Allen | No. 20 : Max Novick

No. 4 : Devin Campbell | No. 6 : Tyler Currie

No. 76 : Ryan Bunka | No. 3 : Tyler Antonucci

Extra Skater 

No. 5 : Charlie Pelnik

Goaltenders

No. 31 : David Richer

No. 30 : Cedric Hansen

No. 33 : Steven Kozikoski

Scratches: A.J. D’Orazio, Joey Scorpio, Michael McArthur, Tyson Bruce, Chris MacMillan, Jesse Farabee, Kristoffer Brun, Colton Fletcher, Thomas Horn, Robert Clerc, Tyson Kirkby, Josh LeBlanc

Prediction

This will the second time the Lakers have been involved in a battle of two top-10 teams in the nation. While they are riding some momentum off both the Buffalo State and The College at Brockport wins, SUNY Geneseo has also had a lot of momentum, winning its last seven. However, the Ice Knights did tie Buffalo State early in the season 4-4. But, Oswego State did fall to SUNY Fredonia a couple weekends ago. The Blue Devils fell to SUNY Geneseo 6-1.

Given the history of these two teams facing in recent years, including the tie last season, this game will be hard fought until the final horn — whether that be 60 minutes, or 65 minutes with an overtime. David Richer is in net for his first back-to-back weekend of the season. Both teams are hot on the offensive side in the last couple games they both have played. This will be one of the toughest games early on for Oswego State.

SUNY Geneseo does have the advantage of a lot more games played in the regular season. This allows them to build a little more chemistry early on in the season and connect well over Oswego State. Despite the five goals yesterday for the Lakers, goals will not be easy to come by tonight.

This game will most likely have the game-winner scored in the last couple minutes of the game, if not in overtime.

No. 2/2 SUNY Geneseo takes this one 3-2 over No. 6/8 Oswego State.