For the second-straight issue, I am going to #StickToSports.

From late September to March for the last three years, my weekends and newspaper coverage were swallowed up by Oswego State NCAA men’s and women’s hockey, as well as Oswego State ACHA men’s hockey. 

I covered 132 hockey games in three years. I traveled across New York and dipped into Pennsylvania a few times. I ate a lot of fast food (shoutout to McDonald’s for always being a lovely host to write my post-game story). I put a lot of miles on my Volkswagen Golf. I lost a lot of sleep with late-night traveling. I enjoyed a lot of hotel waffles during the weekends where I was able to stay overnight.

There were games where I witnessed history. I watched Olivia Ellis become the first women’s hockey player to reach 100 career points as a Laker. I saw the women’s hockey team tie national-powerhouse Plattsburgh State, the only league game the Cardinals have not won in the four years of the league. I followed along as Steven Kozikoski took over the goal from two seniors while he was only a sophomore. I sat in awe as Oswego State men’s hockey defeated Plattsburgh State in Whiteout Weekend for the first time in six years.

This time last year, I unknowingly covered my last Oswego State men’s hockey game while a beat writer for The Oswegonian. It was Oswego State vs. SUNY Geneseo in the SUNYAC Championships. You could not ask for a better matchup between top teams in the nation fighting for a trip to the NCAA Div. III Tournament, which was later canceled due to COVID-19.

But I would trade anything to see an Oswego State goaltender lead his or her team onto the ice for pre-game warmups one final time. 

Knowing that this typically would be the time that I publish my end-of-season wrap-up article, I have been thinking about my three years on the hockey beat for The Oswegonian. The games I witnessed, the memories I made and the people I met along the way, it is all something I will cherish forever.

Eighteen-year-old Ben Grieco, who was blindly given the women’s hockey beat during his freshman year from then-Sports Editor Luke Scoville and then-Assistant Sports Editor Ryan Zalduondo, could not even fathom what would happen over the next three years. Eventually, he worked his way up to the men’s hockey beat during his sophomore year and then ran with it even further last year. 

As 22-year-old Ben Grieco, now a senior, I still cannot entirely comprehend what happened. Every game gave me the same excitement as my first game, which was an exhibition game between Oswego State women’s hockey and the Toronto Midget Aeros on Oct. 21, 2017. Every time I heard the beginning of “Kickstart My Heart” by Mötley Crüe when the men’s hockey team skated onto the ice for starting lineups, I got chills and could not stop smiling.

The amount of ideas that I had going into my third year covering the men’s hockey team, I was on top of the world. I was looking forward to finding new, unique ways to cover the team and providing the best content possible. More importantly, I was excited to teach whoever would be taking over for the 2021-2022 season.

As much of a cop-out as it sounds, I want to end this stint covering Oswego State hockey with a simple, “thank you.” To the coaching staffs who let some random kid into their office every week with questions for stories; to the players that came off the ice and minutes later needed to come to the hallway to talk about the game; to the readers who read my stories and followed along for the entire season: thank you.

I hope that I was half the beat writer of whoever will take over for me in the future seasons, taking on the challenge of covering two of Oswego State’s premier teams, spending night after night in the Marano Campus Center. 

Photo via Jenn Robilotto