It was essentially non-stop hockey with no penalties called during the entire 65-minute duration of the 2-2 tie for the Oswego State women’s hockey team against SUNY Cortland on Wednesday night.

Head coach Diane Dillon said it was the first time in her entire hockey career, between being a player and a coach, that she had seen no penalties called in a game.

Dillon said she thought the game was pretty physical, despite no calls from the officiating crew.

“There were times that there was a lot of contact near the net that we felt should’ve been called on us, as well as them,” Dillon said. “We’re glad there wasn’t something called when there shouldn’t have been anything. The kids battled hard.”

The first period ended scoreless, despite 11 shots from Oswego State compared to SUNY Cortland’s six. Kyleigh Grugin and Megan Teachout both had breakaway opportunities, none of which found the back of the net.

Associate head coach Mark Digby said the first 15 minutes of the opening period “were probably the best hockey we’ve played in a while.” The Red Dragons did not record a shot until there was 8:37 remaining in the period, and the Lakers already had seven.

However, SUNY Cortland controlled the second period for the first 15 minutes, going up 2-0 after a couple defensive turnovers. Emily King scored unassisted at 4:54 of the middle period after going right in front of Rachael Farmer, and getting backhand shot past the leg of Farmer.

Grace Schnorr added the team’s second goal at 13:20 of the second period, with assists from Katie DeVoe and Katelinn Cummings.

“The goals were the least of our issues in the second period. Both of them were skill mistakes by players that just don’t really usually make those mistakes,” Digby said. “If we’re going to make mistakes, we’d rather have us make skill mistakes than effort mistakes. The second period, we just became unplugged defensively a little bit.”

Teachout recorded her team-leading eighth goal of the season after a two-on-one with Grugin at 16:56 of the second period. The Auburn native kept the shot for herself and sniped the puck over the shoulder of Chelsea Allain, almost knocking the water bottle off the top of the net.

She also recorded an assist on Eryn Stewart’s game-tying goal with 17:21 left in the third period, after taking the original shot. Allain let up the rebound, hit Grugin’s stick and Stewart got it behind the net.

Teachout is now on a four-game point streak, dating back to Jan. 8 against King’s College, where she had a five-point game with two goals and three assists. With her two points against SUNY Cortland, the freshman leads the team with 19 points.

“She gets a lot of shots. She’s certainly not unwilling to shoot the puck, which is nice,” Digby said. “She’s got such a heavy shot. She’s willing to get that puck in deep and then play the forecheck, and not try to force offense.”

Farmer finished the game with 22 saves, while Allain stopped 27 shots. Digby mentioned that Farmer “stepped up without really seeing much action.”

“She made some nice saves with longer droughts in between shots,” Dillon said. “It’s not an easy thing to do.”

Oswego State (9-4-2, 6-3-2 NEWHL) gets one point out of the league game against SUNY Cortland (11-4-2, 5-4-2 NEWHL). The Lakers have another road game this Saturday against SUNY Potsdam (8-8-0, 6-5-0 NEWHL), which is on a three-game win streak.

“If we can bring the energy and that enthusiasm where we’re rolling four lines and all of them are contributing, I think that’s a big sign for this team,” Digby said. “The league’s so competitive right now. I think our ability to stay consistent and being able to execute will be big.”

Photo by Ben Grieco | The Oswegonian