Highlighted by a Josh Zizek hat-trick, the Oswego State men’s hockey team came away with two SUNYAC league points in a 5-2 win over SUNY Potsdam Friday night.

The Lakers came into the game with a lot of rotation in their lineup, including a first forward line of Michael Gillespie, Anthony Passero and Travis Broughman. The lineup also had Josh LeBlanc on the third forward line and Colton Fletcher as the extra skater for his second collegiate game.

While the team did come away with the win, head coach Ed Gosek said he was not happy with the way the new lines played throughout the game.

“We changed after the first. We changed the line combinations to help us try to get some spark and get something going,” Gosek said. “We just had a lot of guys who were vanilla ice cream. There was no chocolate, there was no sprinkles. Bland is bland.”

The defensive pairings were also a little different in the game. Tyler Currie and Max Novick were matched up together on the first line, with Carter Allen and Devin Campbell on the second, and Kristoffer Brun and Tyler Antonucci. Allen was a strong penalty killer blocking shots throughout the game. He now has 10 blocks on the season.

“I thought our defense played a strong game, limiting the number of shots. I thought that was a positive for us,” Gosek said. “I don’t think we gave a lot of zone time. I thought, off the line rush, were [Potsdam’s] best opportunities.”

He also said that there is no doubt in his mind there will be more line changes before Saturday’s game against Plattsburgh State.

Similar to Oswego State’s game against The College at Brockport, this game was physical and had a lot of penalties. With the special teams on full force for both teams, the power plays and penalty kills were all crucial.

Oswego State went 2-4 on the penalty kill, allowing goals on its first two man-disadvantages, while the Lakers also went 2-4 on the power play. Zizek scored both power play goals for the Lakers.

“Really, the difference in the game wasn’t until the third period where we got more aggressive on the penalty kill,” Gosek said. “Special teams are critical. In our league, five-on-five, it’s hard to score. You need your special teams to be better than your opponent’s. Tonight, we were.”

SUNY Potsdam’s Ben Thompson got a game misconduct penalty and a five-minute major for a contact to the head call. Both calls came at 16:08 of the third period. The Lakers were not able to convert on the long man-advantage.

Allen was the one that was hit and Campbell got a high stick to the chin. Gosek said he was getting stitches after the game.

“I don’t think it was intentional or whatever, but, whether it’s on us or them, [the referees] have to make that call,” Gosek said.

Despite the five goals Oswego State produced, Gosek said he thought the team started out slow. Some of issues he said were that the forwards did not support the defense, nor did the defense move the puck well.

He said the team started to pick it up in the second, but the third period is where the momentum boost came for the Lakers, especially with an aggressive penalty kill.

“I just thought we were very fragmented in the first period,” Gosek said. 

Zizek’s hat trick throughout the game led to some strong moments for the Lakers all night. His two power play goals were from the same position both times. After a cross-ice pass from Gillespie from the right offensive zone circle, Zizek one-timed both shots from the left circle in the backdoor past SUNY Potsdam’s Nate Skidmore.

Zizek’s third goal came while he was skating through the zone near the goal crease and cut to the forehand and shot it over the shoulder of Skidmore in the third period. He also had a secondary assist on the Novick goal at 11:36 of the third period.

The hat-trick was the second one scored by a Laker this year, following Joseph Molinaro’s at Buffalo State earlier in the season.

“You need your leaders to step up in games where it’s a struggle,” Gosek said. “He helped energize the rest of the guys with his goals and his penalty killing.”

Gosek said SUNY Potsdam did a good job of clogging up the neutral zone in the first two periods to prevent Oswego State from taking control early in the game.

“They played hard. They played smart. Give Potsdam credit,” Gosek said. “They clogged it up, kept it to the outsides and luckily we were able to get the third goal so we weren’t playing from behind or it would’ve been a similar scenario to some of the other games.”

Following the win, Oswego State now prepares to play one of its biggest, if not the biggest, rivals in Plattsburgh State for the second game of Whiteout Weekend. The Lakers have not beat the Cardinals at home for six seasons. Last season, Plattsburgh State won 1-0 in the final regular season game of the season for the Lakers.

But, for Gosek, he is concerned about finding an identity heading into the game, especially since it is the last one before the winter break for Oswego State. He said he hopes the team can gain momentum following this weekend, but it is all about consistency.

Gosek said he thinks his team is a good defensive team, as it keeps opposing teams to under a two-goal average. But the primary opportunities are what hurts the team’s ability to perform at full capacity.

Plattsburgh State, who is coming off a 4-3 win over SUNY Cortland on Friday, averages three goals a game, and only allows an average of 2.2. Oswego State averages 3.8 a game while allowing 2.1.

“We certainly haven’t proven that we’re some high-level, offensive powerhouse,” Gosek said. “We’ve got to continue to get better defensively until we can find some scoring.”

No. 8/9 Oswego State, which now sits at 6-2-0 (4-2-0 SUNYAC), hosts Plattsburgh State (5-4-1, 5-2-1 SUNYAC) for the second game of Whiteout Weekend on Saturday.