The Oswego State men’s hockey team will host Hobart College in the NCAA Div. III Tournament Quarterfinals on March 16 for the Lakers’ first NCAA tournament appearance since the 2016-2017 season.

After receiving the first-round bye due to the PairWise rankings, the Lakers had to wait a week to see who their opponent would be for the quarterfinals. On March 9, Hobart College and Plymouth State played during the first round at Hobart College with the Statesmen coming out victorious 2-1.

While the Lakers are preparing for Hobart College this coming weekend, they must focus on their own needs after the loss to SUNY Geneseo in the SUNYAC championship.

“Obviously, we need to be better than we were in our last game,” head coach Ed Gosek said. “[It is] a lot of little areas, getting back to fundamentals and getting back to basics that we need to get better at.”

Compared to the Statesmen, who have now only had a week to prepare for the quarterfinals, the Lakers have had two full weeks of practice and no games. Especially following a loss in the league championship, having the two weeks of just practices can be frustrating mentally, captain Devin Campbell said. 

During the practices, coaches show video and do different drills to show what needs to happen differently. Every time film is shown from the game, players relive the moments that led to their demise – whether it be a bad pass, a blocked shot or poor positioning.

“It’s hard sitting at home for a weekend this late in the year,”  Campbell said. “I don’t think we played a terrible game against Geneseo. Sometimes the bounces don’t go your way.”

But, after 29 games since the first exhibition game of the season on Oct. 20 for the Lakers, the rest can also be beneficial physically. With some players battling undisclosed injuries and simple nagging issues, including after the tough game against the Knights, the rest came at a good time.

“I think a lot of guys needed the rest,” Campbell said. “A lot of guys are banged up right now. It’s just that time of the year.”

Oswego State and Hobart College have already faced each other once this season, starting, what seems like, an annual tradition between two teams that are not in the same conference but are both in the national rankings week after week.

On Nov. 10, the Lakers hosted the Statesmen at the Marano Campus Center in the Lakers’ third regular season game for the year. It was Oswego State’s first back-to-back weekend of the season, just coming off a win at SUNY Canton on Nov. 9.

It was Hobart College’s fifth game of the season and had just come off a tough weekend against two stout NEHC opponents in Castleton University and then-No. 12 Norwich University.  

Due to how early in the season the game was, it is hard for Gosek to use that footage to analyze. But Gosek knows that the Statesmen are still a physical team and capable of winning.

“It was awful early in the season for both teams. … I know they’re a different team,” Gosek said. “They’re playing very good hockey.”

Going into the weekend, Gosek and Campbell said there are just little things the team needs to work on, such as defensive zone awareness and watching the opposing teams in coverage. Campbell also said the penalty kill needs to improve.

“I think our confidence with the puck too. … We’ve been getting rid of pucks when we should be holding onto them and trying to make more plays and be more skilled,” Campbell said. “Nothing too crazy.”

Even though it is brought up time and time again for every “big” game, the home-ice advantage for Oswego State is a greater edge than most teams have at their home rinks. With the Marano Campus Center Ice Arena packing in 3,000 fans strong, the atmosphere has a different vibe to it during the NCAA Tournament. 

The Whiteout Weekend, TEAL game and SUNYAC semifinals games were all special in their own regard. For the first one, a crowd was decked out in white; the second, that same crowd was decked out in teal. The SUNYAC semifinals was just a general playoff atmosphere.

But there is something just a little different about the NCAA Tournament, knowing what is at stake for fans and players alike.

“We all love playing here. It’s the reason we all come playing here in the first place,” Campbell said. “It’s hard not to want to play your best hockey when you have that kind of support from everybody around.”

Despite losing to SUNY Geneseo just two weeks ago, Gosek and the rest of the coaching staff are happy with the progress the team has made, both long-term and in more recent practices, which Gosek described as “hard-working practices.”

“I’m a firm believer of the harder you work, the more breaks you make [and] the more opportunities you get,” Gosek said.

Campbell told his team they cannot play scared and need to just be comfortable on the ice and “make the plays [they are] here for.” But everyone knows that one team, either Oswego State or Hobart College, will be done on Saturday night.

“We certainly don’t want to dwell on that. They understand the pressure from there,” Gosek said. “I think they have something to prove as far as how we played our last game. It’s no disrespect to Geneseo. We know we can be better.”

Photo/graphic by Kyle Hurley and Maria Pericozzi | The Oswegonian