Imagine the headlines: “Anthony Passero scores 100th career point in Lakers’ 4-2 win over SUNY Fredonia.”

Sure, it is not the NCAA Championship game or even the SUNYAC Championship game, but having the insurance goal in a tightly-contested win over a tough SUNY Fredonia team also be your 100th career point is something players can only dream of.

Instead, sophomore Tyson Kirkby stole the show—and rightfully so—as he scored the game-winning goal on the power play with 40.5 seconds remaining in the third period in what was a 4-4 game. It was Kirkby’s fifth career goal, and likely the biggest thus far.

In a game that looked like it was going to overtime after SUNY Fredonia scored the equalizer at 17:07 of the third period, a roughing call against Antonio Demacopoulos at 19:14 was all the Lakers needed in a 5-4 win over SUNY Fredonia.

“I thought we were good. In the third, when we were up 4-2, we had three chances to bury them and we didn’t,” Passero said. “They came back and made it 4-4 and we get a call that we needed and I think our power play just finally came through for us.”

Nevertheless, Passero cannot be forgotten. After a goal and two assists, including an assist on the game-winning goal, in the game against the Blue Devils, he became the 57th member of the 100-point club for the Oswego State men’s hockey team.

It is a list that includes Laker greats such as Dave Lair, Paul Rodrigues or Mike Snell. It even has current assistant coach Jon Whitelaw and hall of famer Tom McFall, who was also in attendance for the game.

Oswego State head coach Ed Gosek said the accomplishment “shows consistency,” and that he is “happy that he found a way” to do it.

Passero made sure to highlight his teammates for helping him get to that point, including sophomore Travis Broughman, who is “a hell of a player,” and that “you’ve just got to give the puck to him sometimes and let him move around and you get points from that.”

“It’s just cool. I’ve been thinking about it for a bit,” Passero said. “Hopefully there’s a couple other guys here that get to it. At the end of the day, it’s just exciting and something I’ll definitely remember.”

While Oswego State pulled out the gutsy win over SUNY Fredonia, there is still some room for improvement, Gosek said. Some of the Blue Devils’ goals came from turnovers or not moving the puck well enough out of the Lakers’ own defensive zone.

What did not help was Carter Allen getting a five-minute major and game misconduct for contact to the head. After reviewing the play, Gosek said he thought Allen’s hands were at the Blue Devils’ chest, but either way, the Lakers had to play with five defensemen for nearly the whole game.

“It is what it is. I thought the five defensemen, they played hard. They laid it all on the line,” Gosek said. “I just thought we took a few too many chances or risks tonight. Puck management wasn’t the greatest. Just our awareness through the neutral zone needs some improvement.”

Derek Brown opened up scoring for Oswego State only 1:46 into the first period to originally give the Lakers a 1-0 lead. But after two SUNY Fredonia goals, one of which was on the five-minute power play, the first intermission saw the Blue Devils with a 2-1 lead.

Jody Sullivan scored less than a minute into the second period after a rebound goal into an essentially empty net to start Oswego State’s run of three unanswered goals. Joey Scorpio scored his first goal of the season at 3:40 of the first period, and then Passero’s goal gave the Lakers a 4-2 lead.

“I thought we played well. Just coverage off the PK. Our weak side forward isn’t in the shooting to possibly alter the shot or block it, and their players went in,” Gosek said of the first period. “The other ones, they made their bounces. Again, we have to continue to work on it.”

Even though he allowed four goals in the game, goaltender David Richer was strong in all 60 minutes of the game. He made 23 saves in the win, which is his third-straight win after two shutouts against Plymouth State and Buffalo State.

In terms of special teams, Oswego State went 3-4 on the penalty kill and 1-2 on the power play, thanks to Kirkby’s one-timer game-winner.

Now, the Lakers have finished their fall semester schedule and will take time to recover before the second half of their season. The players will return to Oswego after Christmas in preparation for the Oswego State Pathfinder Classic on Jan. 3 and 4. The Lakers will play against Saint Mary’s University (Minnesota) in the first round of the tournament.

But first, Passero will celebrate his 100th point and Oswego State (7-3-0, 6-1-0 SUNYAC) will enjoy its weekend sweep of the western New York teams and a three-game winning streak.

“Our schedule doesn’t get any easier. We keep saying that if you want to be the best at the end of the year, you have to play the best teams,” Gosek said. “It’ll be another challenge for us. Right now it’s just time to recoup and be ready to come back and get ready to go.”

Photo by Ben Grieco | The Oswegonian