Nov. 16, 2019: the day that the Oswego State men’s hockey team’s season took a turn for the worse. 

The Lakers entered the game with a 4-0-0 record, both overall and in conference. They just beat The College at Brockport 4-1 at home on Nov. 15, with three assists from Joseph Molinaro. 

SUNY Geneseo was 4-0-1 going into the game, after dominating SUNY Cortland 7-1 on the road the night before, with Conlan Keenan and Andrew Romano having three-point nights. 

It was No. 2 vs. No. 3 at the Ira S. Wilson Ice Arena in Geneseo. But when 9:30 p.m. rolled around, no one could have guessed what would have happened. 

“Coming off Europe … the preseason games … we were playing good hockey,” head coach Ed Gosek said. “We had almost 10 games where we hadn’t really had any adversity.”

The puck was dropped at 7 p.m., starting the first game of the season against SUNY Geneseo for the Lakers. At 7:04 p.m., the Knights’ goal from Tyson Empey began what would be a 9-1 domination over Oswego State.

Everything seemed fine until Tyler Currie committed the Lakers’ first penalty at 14:24 of the opening period. Sixteen penalties would follow throughout the rest of the game.

Those penalties included eight minor penalties, two major penalties, two 10-minute misconducts, three game-misconducts and a match misconduct which forced Molinaro to miss the next game.

Oswego State last allowed nine goals in one game against Middlebury College on Jan. 3, 1998. There have been some other big losses in the team’s history, but nothing quite like this one, Gosek said.

“It wasn’t really the loss as much as the manner in which the way we lost, which was the undisciplined play and everything else,” Gosek said. “All things happen for a reason. Do we wish that it didn’t occur that way? Absolutely.”

Even growing up, playing midget hockey and junior hockey, a game like this had never occurred for Josh Zizek. Anthony Passero mentioned he had been a part of “games that have gotten out of control, but there are none that you want to remember.”

“I don’t think it’s ever been like that, where it’s just penalty after penalty,” Zizek said. “I can’t remember an even-strength shift we had that game, other than the first shift of the game.”

The Lakers had nine power play opportunities in the game, only scoring once with 1:19 left in the third period. Mitch Emerson scored a goal, but by that time, the damage had already been done. Oswego State went 5-12 on the penalty kill.

“Our penalty kill was brutal that game,” Zizek said. “I don’t think you can take anything positive out of that game other than we’ve got a chance to redeem ourselves this weekend.”

Oswego State has waited 83 days for that redemption. Within that time, players have had time to reflect, especially the leadership of the team. It is a game that “humbles you. A loss like that, it definitely brings you down to earth,” Passero said.

“Sure, it tells you that you’re not as good as you think,” Passero said. “But, at the end of the day, you still wake up and play the next day. It’s a good learning lesson for us.”

For players that have played two or three years of junior hockey before coming to Oswego State, with the team ranging from 20 to 24 years old, Passero said the players are pretty mature, and that they would “be naïve to let it happen again.”

“We’re all men here. We can admit our faults, and that first game against Geneseo, you can’t blame anybody else other than yourself,” Zizek said. “We’ve definitely learned from it.”

Now, all eyes are on Friday’s game, with SUNY Geneseo now taking the reciprocating trip to the Marano Campus Center. Oswego State has gone 7-7-0 since the loss to the Knights, including a 3-2 overtime loss to SUNY Cortland.

But, there have been some big changes for the Lakers following the game against the Red Dragons, including Steven Kozikoski taking over the goaltender duties, along with Alex DiCarlo scoring five goals in three games. 

Most importantly, it is now the players’ team, with them “finally understanding how they have to play to be successful,” according to Gosek.

“[The coaching staff] is here to guide, work on the right things, talk with guys, show guys, teach, educate and reinforce good behavior. That’s our job all the time,” Gosek said. “At this point in the season, after the Cortland loss, it became their team. They’re finally taking ownership for where we’re at with our season.”

Zizek said everyone is “starting to play like a genuine team.”

“Any guy is willing to do anything for the other guys in that room,” Zizek said. “It’s nice to see.”

Friday will be no small task. The last time Oswego State faced SUNY Geneseo at home, the game ended in a 4-4 tie following Empey’s game-tying goal at 10:11 of the third period on the power play. It was also the Lakers’ senior night, where they honored the four seniors they had at the time. 

Passero mentioned that “alumni definitely check in on games like these,” and those four seniors will likely be watching.

“Obviously, it was an unfortunate event that we tied on their senior night,” Zizek said. “I know they’ll all be happy if we can come out with a win this weekend in our own barn.”

But this weekend, the team just “has to keep their heads,” according to Passero, and “give them everything they got,” Zizek said. Having the game at home helps, Gosek, Zizek and Passero all said, with Gosek adding, “you play differently than you do on the road.”

“If we want to try to play up and down the ice with Geneseo and have some kind of finesse game, it’ll be the same score. Maybe a little less,” Gosek said. “If we play the way we’re capable of, it’ll be a good game.”

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Photo by Casey Stone | The Oswegonian