The Oswego State women’s hockey team is off to an 0-1 start after losing its first exhibition game to the London Jr. Devilettes. Unlike past seasons, the Lakers will have a second exhibition game to prepare themselves for this upcoming season. After being shutout in their first exhibition game, a second one will definitely help out the team in a more positive way than negative.

In previous years, Oswego State has only played one exhibition game to start out its season, but this year the team has two exhibition games to play. Last year the Lakers had success in their one exhibition game against the London Jr. Devilettes, who was the same team that defeated the Lakers this previous weekend, winning 4-3.

This is no cause to panic since the Lakers have only played one game so far this season and have a full season ahead of them. Plus, the team is still developing chemistry and trying to figure out what line and power play combinations they will go with this season.

“We’re looking to find out who those power play players are,” head coach Diane Dillon said. “We didn’t have specific power play units, every line got a shot at it. Same thing with the penalty kill. So we’re looking to see who is going to rise to the top on that.”

This second exhibition game will give a lot of freshmen and new members of the team a chance to get ice time and show the coaches what they can bring to the team. This is especially beneficial for freshman goaltender Tia Trovato who got to play the entire third period for the Lakers. Even though Trovato allowed three goals while in net, it is very important for a freshman goalie to see some kind of ice time after already allowing her first goal. Trovato looks to be the future for the Lakers in net and will definitely build on the loss against London and see more ice time in Oswego State’s next exhibition game.

Another underclassman that saw plenty of ice time against London was sophomore Avery Webster on defense. Not only did she see plenty of ice time during regulation, but saw significant minutes during the power play and penalty kill for the Lakers as well. In the preseason press conference for the Lakers, Dillon talked about how she expects a big year for Webster. Playing the number of minutes that Webster did on both units gave the coaches confidence in her ability as a player and how much this coaching staff truly trusts her. The team can expect big things from Webster this year.

Another positive to take away from Oswego State’s loss to London was the play in net by senior goaltender Rachael Farmer. She only let in one goal against London and did an incredible job of keeping the Lakers in the game when they were on the penalty kill with Farmer in net. Since this is Farmer’s second year at Oswego State after transferring from SUNY Cortland last year, the team should see an improvement of her play since she has already adjusted to attending a new school and being a part of a new team. Even with all that, Farmer still had a save percentage of .942 and allowed 1.84 goals per game last season. It will be a coach’s decision how much time in net Farmer will see in Oswego States next exhibition game, but Dillon should expect her to be the rock in net for the Lakers this season.

Oswego State’s next exhibition game will come against a new member of the NEHC, the William Smith Herons who had a record of 18-8-2 last season. This game could go either way for the Lakers when one takes certain things into consideration. One is that William Smith have not played a game yet this season, so the Lakers will have the advantage of having more in game experience as a team. However, four out of five of William Smith’s double-digit goal scorers are all returning this year, so there could be a lot of goal scoring from the Herons in this upcoming exhibition game.

At the end of the day, it is still unknown what kind of team the Lakers are with a whole season of play ahead of them. After a couple of regular season games, it should be clear what players will get the majority of ice time and be a part of the power play units. The bottom line is that Oswego State will look to take advantage of having a second exhibition game and use it to improve as a team. Dillon certainly sees this as an advantage, as do her players.

“We’re excited about it,” Dillon said. “It gives us two weeks to actually get ready. So, having another exhibition game to get ready for the regular season I think is fantastic.”

Photo by Nicole Hube | The Oswegonian