On March 2, the Oswego State Lakers experienced heartbreak. SUNY Geneseo’s men’s hockey team was able to knock off the Lakers in the SUNYAC championship by a score of 4-3. That game was the moment that pushed the two recently dominant programs to a new level of rivalry. The two SUNYAC powerhouses will meet again this Saturday on SUNY Geneseo’s home ice.

The two teams have played each other extremely close the last several years, especially the last three. In those three seasons, SUNY Geneseo reached the SUNYAC championship game all three times, beating Oswego State and SUNY Fredonia once each. For Oswego State, the pain of defeat still lingers as a sense of motivation against its new foe.

“With last year, we lost to them in the finals which is still salt in the wounds,” captain Josh Zizek said. “It still hurts these days, but last year is last year and now all we can do is look forward to this year.”

Looking at this year’s team, the Lakers have a lot to look forward to. A team that has a slew of seniors and two excellent goaltenders in David Richer and Cedric Hansen. Goaltending is always a critical part of the game. But with SUNY Geneseo, it seems to elevate to a new level. Last season, the Knights’ opposition always struggled to put it past Devin McDonald, their goaltender and last season’s Div. III Player of the Year. Despite his excellence, the Lakers always shift the conversation to SUNY Geneseo’s team defense in front of him, as the defense can build up a goaltender. 

Even with the loss of McDonald, the Knights have former backup and junior Aaron Mackay to take the helm. He has split time with freshman Matt Petizian who excelled in junior hockey with the Central Canada Hockey League’s Hawkesbury Hawks. Petizian is no slouch of a first-year goaltender. The 21-year-old led the CCHL in wins with 28 and shutouts with seven last season, resulting in an impressive 2.35 goals against average and .923 save percentage. Despite his impressive performances, Mackay seems to have the slight edge in the starting goaltender competition. Both have played two games, with Mackay facing the tougher competition in Plattsburgh State and Nazareth College. In those games, Mackay has surrendered just two goals, for a .960 save percentage, a number reminisent of McDonald’s stellar season last year. While the sample size is small, SUNY Geneseo returns an impressive defense and structure that helps out its goaltenders.

“Anytime you lose a senior goalie of that caliber, there’s some question marks [with goaltending,] but they play very good team defense,” Oswego State head coach Ed Gosek said. “It makes it hard to get grade-A [chances].”

Team defense is something that SUNY Geneseo did so well last season and have continued to do through 2019-20, despite losing some integral pieces. The team lost three marque defensemen in Duggie Lagrone, Mitch Ferguson and Will Campion. What makes these three significant is they all spent time with Div. I programs. While Oswego State has a handful of Div. I transfers, having three in one defensive core is a big advantage and a testament to the recruiting ability of the Knights. Heading into this season, defensively they added sophomore Matt Doran, who spent a season at Alaska-Fairbanks, another Div. I program. This ability to recruit has placed SUNY Geneseo in the top level of Div. III hockey, right with Oswego State. 

To some, it might seem as if great defense is not as important to goals against numbers than the goaltender himself. While the goalie is the last line of defense, a swarming team defense that is positionally sound makes it so much easier for the goalie.

“When everything is working well and everyone is working together, goalies, our job is to make the first save and control our rebound for sure,” Richer said. “But if we can’t, the defense is there to clear the front of the net and that’s what good teams do.”

This is something that the Knights do so well. In their win against the Cardinals on Nov. 2, the team defense was quick to chase loose pucks. This resulted in few second chance opportunities for Plattsburgh State. Without that second wave of attack or extended zone time, it forces teams to play back and more conservative, as they cannot get their entire team up the ice. Aside from that, it enables goaltenders to reset and establish their positioning and improve rebound control, something Richer struggled with last season. 

For Oswego State, the best way to combat this swarming defense is to support one another throughout the three zones. Rather than launch stretch passes like against SUNY Cortland, shorter passes could help the Lakers enter the zone with more effectiveness. Once in the zone, a net front presence will be crucial. Being able to get inside position closer to the front of the net will help the Lakers jump on loose rebounds before the Knights. 

From a defensive standpoint, the Lakers have to return to form from the SUNY Potsdam game. The Lakers did a very good job exiting the defensive zone and avoiding long shifts in their own end. One thing that does need to be cleaned up is Oswego State’s discipline. The Lakers took eight penalties last Saturday. Despite killing off seven penalties, this is a Knights team that is dominant offensively and on the power play. SUNY Geneseo has the third-best power play in the nation at a rate of 37.9%. It also has drawn the most power play opportunities with 29. Between the Knights’ quick-strike offense and speed that creates power play chances, Oswego State has a tough task ahead of them.

“They’re the team to beat and we have to match that and try to get back to where we were,” Gosek said.

Photo by Alexis Fragapane | The Oswegonian