Head coach Ed Gosek and assistant coach Jon Whitelaw were sitting in their office Saturday morning, trying to decide who was going to be in the lineup for the game against SUNY Geneseo, while also watching the Knights’ film.

That was until I walked in, Whitelaw was immediately prepared to close the cabinet to hide the lines if I was a player walking in. When he saw it was me, he let his guard down and opened the cabinet back up.

“We’re trying to get our lineup decided. Usually we’re selecting the last couple players this early in the morning,” Gosek said. “Just remember, anything you say can and will be used against you in the court of law.”

And that was my cue to begin listening and paying attention to how the Oswego State men’s hockey team handles an average road trip. 

From 9:00 a.m. to 9:55 a.m., both coaches prepare what they are going to tell the team in regards to SUNY Geneseo’s special teams. At the same time, they try to decide who the extra skater is going to be. It is all dependent on who is playing well and what the team needs.

Whitelaw, who graduated from the team in 2013, said now that he is a coach, he knows what causes players to tick and what motivates them. Sometimes, all it takes is to take them off the power play, penalty kill or even change which line they play on. 

The only players that know who will be starting are the goaltenders, so they can do whatever they need to prepare for the next day.

During that hour of video and deciding the final lineup, the coaches also try to determine what they are going to show the team, limiting how many clips they actually show. Gosek tries to find clips of what other teams did, to show what his own team should look to avoid.

After the final decisions have been made and the players are all waiting in the locker room, the coaches themselves get ready for the team’s morning skate. While Gosek is out of the office getting changed, that is when the team’s athletic trainer, Elise Fitzsimmons, comes in to talk to Whitelaw about the team’s Thanksgiving schedule.

This year, the Lakers have a tournament in Utica on both the Friday and Saturday, after the holiday. They will be having a Thanksgiving dinner in the area, and Fitzsimmons was trying to figure out plans.

The Huntsville, Ontario, Canada, native said that Canadian Thanksgiving is just a normal holiday, where some family come over for dinner but it is not that big of a deal.

“Now that I’m fully-fledged American, I just love Thanksgiving,” Whitelaw said. 

Once 10:00 a.m. rolls around, the team watches SUNY Geneseo’s film. Before they get started, the players talk casually, anything from what they ate for dinner to what music video another teammate said they need to watch.

Then it is all business: the team’s objective; its five-game segment, talking about the team’s penalty kill. About a half-hour later, the team goes to morning skate. 

“Whatever you do, don’t walk across the logo,” Whitelaw tells me, as I walk across the carpet on the floor with the Oswego State Laker logo.

The morning skate is fast-paced with different drills, with some time focused on how they will handle special teams units against the Knights. 

After practice, around 1:15, the team heads off the ice to get any treatment from Fitzsimmons, fix their equipment and eventually get their pre-game meal at Cooper Dining Hall. That afternoon, it was chicken parm.

Just an hour later, the team’s equipment is in bags and they get ready for another SUNY Geneseo film session. At 2:30, the team starts to load the bus. The players put their own bags under the bus. At some points, it is a competition.

“You see the placement [of my bag]?” Colton Fletcher asks. “It’s perfect.”

And just like any team, there are plenty of snacks to go around, but also there is some “unassigned-assigned seating.”

“Get up front Fletch, you’re still a sophomore, bud,” someone – presumably an upperclassman – yells from the back. 

At 2:52, Gosek asks if everyone is on the bus.

“Well, guys are sleeping already. Guess we’re good to go,” Gosek says.

Only five minutes into the bus ride, however, an alarm goes off. It is the air cooler. Similar to last season’s game at SUNY Geneseo, the bus had to pull over and check the problem. Thankfully, it did not cause any major delays.

“You know, we played some of our best hockey in Italy when we showed up 15 minutes before the game,” Whitelaw joked.

On the bus, a lot of players keep to themselves. Whitelaw watches other hockey games – this ride was the Oswego State women’s hockey game and Hobart College vs. Castleton University. 

“Ryan Bunka, an academic weapon,” another player yells, while Bunka was working on his homework.

But at 4:48, it is all business: the team arrives at the Ira S. Wilson Ice Arena. The team heads down the locker room, unpacks, gets the coffee brewing and some players have bagels and bananas.

Michael Gillespie walks around with his bagel and a big jar of peanut butter, “Yo, does anybody have a knife?”

Josh Zizek gets his stick ready with some tape while also getting changed.

“Put a shirt on,” Fitzsimmons tells him.

“Uh, it’s called a model walk. Ever heard of it?” Zizek says.

Then the warmups begin, with stretching and other plyometrics. The team’s tradition of soccer also begins. Three games were played – Carter Allen won the first one. 

“It’s just an easy warmup,” Whitelaw says. “You don’t need much. Sometimes it gets really competitive.”

At 6:22, the team hits the ice for its pre-game warmups. And right before 7:00 p.m., the team heads out to the ice for the game. David Richer stands in the hallway first, ready to skate onto the ice.

“Let’s have some fun tonight, boys,” Anthony Passero said. 

Since the game against SUNY Geneseo was a loss, Joseph Molinaro looked at me during the third period and said, “Yeah, this is going to be a quiet bus ride home.” Bunka agreed with him.

After the game, players pack up all their things once again and get a last-minute talk from Gosek about the game. The bus is warming up outside with several pizzas waiting for the team. Some players just take a slice, while others grab a whole box for their part of the bus.

Molinaro was right. The bus ride home was pretty quiet. We all finally arrived back in Oswego around 12:30 a.m. Gosek had one last speech for his team while the team’s staff and myself left and headed to our cars. 

“Thanks for coming,” Gosek tells me. “Wish we could’ve given you a better result.”

Graphic by Patrick Higgins | The Oswegonian