In a matchup between two top-five teams in the nation, No. 4/4 Oswego State (17-4-1, 10-3-0 SUNYAC) will host No. 2/2 SUNY Geneseo (20-1-1, 19-1-1 SUNYAC) for the Lakers’ senior night and final home game of the regular season. This game will most likely be a strong goaltending duel.

Last Time Out

Oswego State

David Richer bounced back in a strong outing in the 3-0 win against The College at Brockport on Friday night after stopping all 35 shots he faced. In a much lower-scoring affair than against Buffalo State where 11 total goals were scored, the Lakers were led by Joseph Molinaro (now with a team-leading 12 goals) who registered the opening goal of the game as well as an assist on the Josh Nenadal goal. Nenadal’s goal was an empty-net goal, his fourth one of the season and eighth goal total. The Oswegonian Sports did a feature on Nenadal this past week and even talked about his ability to score the empty-net goals this season. Travis Broughman scored the second goal for the Lakers unassisted. It was his first goal since Jan. 12 at Elmira College. He now has nine goals and 17 points total. The Lakers went 0-4 on the power-play, but went 4-4 on the penalty kill.

During the game, Michael Gillespie was hit and was taken off the ice. He was later seen by WNYO’s Chris Yackel during the game without his pads and gear on and did not return to the game at all. He is scratched in tonight’s game. Oswego State asst. coach Mark Digby did not have an update for WNYO’s Dan Kuter following the game at Brockport.

SUNY Geneseo

Devin McDonald posted his fourth straight shutout against SUNY Cortland Friday night after a 3-0 win for the Ice Knights. McDonald only had to make 16 saves, and even registered an unsportsmanlike penalty, compared to SUNY Cortland’s Nick Modica who made 61 saves on 63 shots. The third SUNY Geneseo goal, scored by Tyson Empey, was an empty-net goal. Conlan Keenan (19g-19a–38p), who leads the team in goals and points, scored on the power play. Arthur Gordon, also on the power-play, opened up scoring for the Ice Knights. SUNY Geneseo went 2-5 on the power play and killed both of its penalties. The win was SUNY Geneseo’s 17th straight win. The last time the Ice Knights lost was at Plattsburgh State on Nov. 9.

Brief History of Lakers and Ice Knights

This is the 94th meeting between the Lakers and Ice Knights, with SUNY Geneseo winning the last game earlier this season 3-0 at the Ira S. Wilson Ice Arena in Geneseo. Oswego State still does boast a 61-27-5 record over the Ice Knights. During the last game, Oswego State was ranked No. 6/8, while SUNY Geneseo was still ranked No. 2/2.

In the previous game, Dan Bosio scored two goals, one on the power-play, and Anthony Marra scored the third goal on the power-play as well to seal the shutout. David Richer made 31 saves in net, compared to Devin McDonald who only had to make 17 for the shutout victory. SUNY Geneseo opened up scoring with Bosio’s first goal at 1:17 of the first period. So, whoever scores the first goal in tonight’s game will be crucial, as Oswego State now has a 15-1-0 record when it scores first, and a 2-3-1 record when it gives up the first goal.

Oswego State has a 32-12-1 record against SUNY Geneseo while playing at home. The last time the Ice Knights won at Oswego was on Jan. 26, 2016, in a 3-1 loss.

By the Numbers

RECORD (conference) [vs. each other]

OSW: 17-4-1 (10-3-0 SUNYAC) [61-27-5]

GEN: 20-1-1 (10-1-1 SUNYAC) [27-61-5]

GOALS (per game) [vs. each other last time]

OSW: 91 (4.1) [0]

GEN: 107 (4.9) [3]

SHOTS (per game) [vs. each other last time]

OSW: 676 (30.7) [17]

GEN: 911 (41.4) [34]

POWER PLAY (percentage) [vs. each other last time]

OSW: 28-107 (26.2%) [0-3 / 0%]

GEN: 31-117 (27.2%) [2-4 / 50.0%]

Lines (provided by Oswego State / SUNY Geneseo athletics)

Oswego State

Forwards

No. 10 : Cameron Berry | No. 15 : Joey Scorpio | No. 27 : Josh Nenadal

No. 93 : Josh LeBlanc | No. 12 : Josh Zizek | No. 91 : Tyson Kirkby

No. 8 : Derek Brown | No. 9 : Mitch Emerson | No. 19 : Joseph Molinaro

No. 7 : Tanner Spink | No. 11 : Anthony Passero | No. 28 : Travis Broughman

Defense

No. 4 : Devin Campbell | No. 20 : Max Novick

No. 6 : Tyler Currie | No. 2 : Carter Allen

No. 21 : Jeff Solow | No. 5 : Charlie Pelnik

Extra Skater

No. 24 : Kristoffer Brun

Goalies

No. 31 : David Richer

No. 30 : Cedric Hansen

No. 33 : Steven Kozikoski

Scratches: Tyler Antonucci, A.J. D’Orazio, Jody Sullivan, Michael Gillespie, Michael McArthur, Chris MacMillan, Colton Fletcher, Thomas Horn, Ryan Bunka

SUNY Geneseo

Forwards

No. 22 : David Szmyd | No. 10 : Conlan Keenan | No. 21 : Andrew Romano

No. 7 : Tyson Empey | No. 17 : Anthony Marra | No. 39 : Arthur Gordon

No. 19 : Dan Bosio | No. 26 : Carson Kelley | No. 11 : Joe Serpico

No. 12 : Brendan Miller | No. 18 : Henry Cleghorn | No. 24 : Ryan Burnett

Defense

No. 44 : Cam Russell | No. 9 : Tanner Salsberry

No. 2 : Kyle Hartman | No. 27 : Will Campion

No. 3 : Mitch Ferguson | No. 8 : Duggie Lagrone

Extra Skater

No. 5 : Chris Perna

Goalies

No. 30 : Devin McDonald

No. 29 : Aaron MacKay

No. 31 : Dylan Schoen

Scratches: Brendan Flanagan, Zach Lynes, Teddy McCabe, Liam McDermott, Gordon Helmuth

Prediction

No matter what, this will be a tough fought game. Both teams are coming off a shutout victory, but SUNY Geneseo has three prior shuouts compared to Oswego State’s 2-1-0 record. SUNY Geneseo is entering the game having won its last 17 games — and has not lost since November — compared to Oswego State’s bounce-back victory over The College at Brockport following the loss to Buffalo State. It could be easy to say that the Ice Knights are the favorite in this game given how certain players have played, such as Devin McDonald who has 12 shutouts and a 0.81 goals against average (.960 save percentage), or Conlan Keenan who has 38 points on the season. The Ice Knights have five players above the highest-scoring player for Oswego State.

David Richer came back extremely strong against The College at Brockport, posting his fifth career shutout, but he will need that performance again against a team like SUNY Geneseo that averages 41.4 shots per game and threw 64 shots on net against SUNY Cortland.

However, Michael Gillespie being scratched might cause some issues with the Lakers after going down with an injury against the Golden Eagles. The lineup for Oswego State really moved around, including the fourth line (Cameron Berry, Joey Scorpio and Josh Nenadal) being bumped to the first line. Tyson Kirkby will get another chance in the lineup on the second line tonight. The last time he played was Jan. 25 against Morrisville State.

Travis Broughman has been linked back up with Anthony Passero, and now Tanner Spink joins the line in place of Michael Gillespie. Kirkby is essentially taking Spink’s spot. Charlie Pelnik also returns to the defensive pairings and Kristoffer Brun will remain the extra skater for back-to-back games. Chris MacMillan has been scratched again.

This game does have the possibility to go to overtime given both goaltender’s recent success.

For a prediction, the Ice Knights will win 18 straight and improve to 21-1-1 (12-1-1 SUNYAC) following a 4-2 win with an empty net goal over Oswego State.

Photo by: Maria Pericozzi | The Oswegonian