It all came down to one game for the Oswego State men’s hockey team against SUNY Geneseo in the SUNYAC Championship.

The Knights were victorious by a score of 4-1.

Pre-game

• The Lakers came in to the game with a 16-9-1 (12-3-1 SUNYAC) record
• The Knights came in to the game with a 21-3-2 (13-1-2 SUNYAC) record
• Oswego State gave Steven Kozikoski the start in net
• SUNY Geneseo’s Aaron MacKay was given the nod

First Period

• Quickly into the game, Matthew Doran opened up scoring at 1:33 of the first period with a goal through traffic. Andrew Romano and Brendan Miller were given the assists. 1-0 SUNY Geneseo.
• At 11:29, Michael Gillespie and Cam Russell were both given two-minute roughing minors. Both teams went to 4-on-4 action for two minutes.
• Just 10 seconds after the calls, Josh Zizek got a deflection goal from the original Carter Allen shot, tying up the game. Carson Vance received the secondary assist. 1-1 game at 11:39.
• With 5:01 remaining in the period, Jody Sullivan was given a two-minute hooking call and a 10-minute misconduct, giving the Lakers their first penalty to kill. Derek Brown served the two-minute minor. The penalty was killed.
• Tanner Salsberry was given a roughing minor at 17:22 of the opening period, sending Oswego State to the power play. The Knights killed the penalty without a goal allowed.
• END 1: Oswego State and SUNY Geneseo are tied 1-1.
  • GOALS:
    • OSW:
      • Josh Zizek (EV) @ 11:39 from Carter Allen and Carson Vance
    • GEN:
      • Matthew Doran (EV) @ 1:33 from Andrew Romano and Brendan Miller
  • GOALTENDERS:
    • OSW:
      • Steven Kozikoski: 5 saves on 6 shots
    • GEN:
      • Aaron MacKay: 9 saves on 10 shots

Second period

• Mac Lewis was called for roughing at 5:21 of the second period. The penalty was killed by Oswego State.
• Lewis and David Szmyd were both given roughing minors at 10:41 of the second period; both teams went to 4-on-4.
• At 11:06, Brendan Miller got a cross-ice pass down low and hit the backdoor wide open. Tanner Salsberry and Devin Brink were both given assists. 2-1 SUNY Geneseo.
• Szmyd scoring at 16:15 to give the Knights an insurance goal while there was a little chaos up front. Tyson Gilmour and Tyson Empey were given the assists. 3-1 Knights.
• All of the following happened at 19:43 after a lot of deliberation:
  • Michael Gillespie was given a five-minute cross-checking call, followed immediately by a game misconduct. His night was done.
  • Tyson Empey was given a five-minute cross-checking from behind call followed by a game misconduct. His night was done, as well.

Third period

• Only 13 seconds into the period, Carter Allen was called for tripping. The penalty ended without a goal from the Knights.
• At 6:15, Joseph Molinaro was called for interference, but the Lakers were able to kill the penalty unharmed.
• At 10:52, David Szmyd was called for cross-checking, but Oswego State was not able to convert on the man-advantage.
• Mitch Emerson was given an embellishment call while Dan Bosio was called for hooking at 16:01.
• Carson Kelley got the empty-net goal with 8.9 seconds to go in the game. 4-1 SUNY Geneseo.
• FINAL: 4-1 SUNY Geneseo.

Post-game

• With the win, SUNY Geneseo earns the automatic bid to the NCAA tournament later this month.
• Oswego State is too far behind for the PairWise, and is now done for the 2019-2020 season.

Photo by Ben Grieco| The Oswegonian