On Saturday, March 8, 2014, No. 3 Oswego State upset No. 1 SUNY Geneseo in the SUNYAC Championship at the Ira S. Wilson Ice Arena in Geneseo.

Now, nearly five years later, the Lakers have the chance to repeat history. The Lakers will face the Ice Knights in the 2019 SUNYAC Championship in Geneseo. 

In 2014, Oswego State won 7-6 following the game-winning goal from Shawn Hulshof with just 28.7 seconds to go in the game on the power play. The win was the Lakers’ 10th league championship and eventually led to a NCAA Div. III Frozen Four appearance.

“It was an exciting college game,” head coach Ed Gosek said. “Let’s hope history can repeat itself.”

Oswego State is entering the championship game, once again, as the underdog against the Ice Knights, who enter the game No. 2 in Div. III hockey. SUNY Geneseo is also ranked No. 1 in goals per game, goals allowed per game and power play percentage. It also has the top two scorers in the nation: Andrew Romano, with 47 points, and Conlan Keenan, who has 46. 

The Lakers only have one advantage over the Ice Knights: shorthanded goals. Oswego State has nine, compared to SUNY Geneseo’s four.

Gosek said with the game being at Geneseo and a lot of fans for the Ice Knights being present, the pressure is on them since they are the favorite in the game.

“If people are going to underestimate us, that’s fine. We’d rather be the underdogs…” captain Devin Campbell said. “We’re going to come in there and play our hearts out and not play afraid.”

No one on the current Oswego State roster, except for some of the coaches, have raised the SUNYAC Championship banner. Some players, like Campbell, have had league championship success in junior hockey, however. 

While with the Carleton Place Canadians in the CCHL, Campbell won the league championship twice, and the Fred Page Cup twice. 

“There’s a lot of guys in there who have never won a championship,” Campbell said. “It’s an awesome feeling, and it really makes you grateful for everything you put into it.”

Against SUNY Geneseo this season, the Lakers went 0-1-1. They tied at the Marano Campus Center Ice Arena on Feb. 9 but lost 3-0 at the Ira S. Wilson Ice Arena. It was the Lakers’ fourth conference game of the season, compared to the Ice Knights’ eighth. 

Following a quick goal, only 1:17 into the first period from Dan Bosio, Oswego State could not respond at even strength or on the man advantage.

“We didn’t play well enough to win that game. But, at the same time, I thought we grew a lot as a team,” Campbell said. “The last time we played them, honestly, if you get rid of that first period, I thought we really took it to them and played a better game than they did.”

This game will be a true battle of the special teams. During the season, Oswego State has gone 0-4 collectively during both games and has allowed four power-play goals on eight total chances. 

SUNY Geneseo, coming into the championship, has a power play percentage of 28.46, eight-tenths better than St. Norbert’s second-ranked power play. 

“Our penalty kill has been very good. That speaks volumes to how good their power play is,” Gosek said. “It’ll be a hell of a challenge for our penalty kill.”

Going to the SUNYAC championship is the goal for any team in the league, and it is a major reason why players compete every weekend, Gosek said. After the abrupt finish last season in the SUNYAC semifinals against SUNY Fredonia., the Lakers are ready to turn over a new leaf.

Win or lose, Gosek is just hoping for a 60-minute effort from the team.

“We hope that we can compete and play our game and have no regrets at the end of the day,” Gosek said. “They’re a great group of guys. I’m sure we’ll get our best effort.”

After the game against Plattsburgh State on Feb. 23, Campbell said in the press conference that hearing about all the hype that SUNY Geneseo has brought this season has annoyed him, especially coming into practice every day and seeing the standings and rankings.

“They are a very highly skilled team. They have a lot of weapons, but so do we,” Campbell said. “We’re trying to make sure we emphasize the fact that we’re not scared of them.”

But, either way, after spending nearly six months together as a team, Campbell has been proud of what the team has accomplished this season, no matter the outcome of the championship game.

The Lakers still do have a chance at the NCAA tournament, win or lose, due to the PairWise rankings. But as is Gosek’s mantra, it is all about focusing on the game at hand.

With nothing to lose, Campbell said the team was glad to have beaten the Cardinals for the semifinals but was even happier to have another crack at taking down the powerhouse that is SUNY Geneseo.

“I’m happy if we go out and play our butts off and, with the way we played this year, I’m happy with these guys,” Campbell said. “I love all of them and I’m very proud of what we’ve done so far.”

Photo by Kyle Hurley | The Oswegonian