By Brandon Ladd

The Oswego State men’s hockey team has its longest pause in the schedule since the beginning of January, as the SUNYAC Semifinals loom on the calendar on March 2. 

The opponent for the Lakers is still to be determined, as the first round of the playoffs is played Feb. 26. The highest seed left standing after the first round will play Oswego State at the Deborah F. Stanley Ice Arena, while the lowest seed has a trip to the Ira S. Wilson Arena in SUNY Geneseo. Oswego State is hoping to keep up its good play as the team is 9-3 overall since New Year’s. 

The most recent screenshot of the Lakers schedule has been up and down, as the team finished SUNYAC play 2-2, its last four games. This included losses to No. 3 in the country, SUNY Geneseo and a loss on the road to SUNY Fredonia. The team notched wins against Morrisville State and Buffalo State during that stretch. Despite the loss to SUNY Fredonia being against a team lower in the SUNYAC standings, head coach Ed Gosek saw no fault in his team’s effort. 

“I thought we played extremely well,” Gosek said. “I thought it was one of our better games this year. You can’t let in four goals on eight shots though, you aren’t going to go anywhere. The bottom line is you can’t outshoot someone 46 to 13 and lose 5-4. We played most of the game in their end, bottomline is you still need to win on the scoreboard.” 

Senior defenseman Tyler Antonucci cited the result to the Blue Devils as a testament to how hard the SUNYAC playoffs will be for each and every team left. 

“Every opponent we play is going to be tough, we know that,” Antonucci said. “We are prepared for it. I think with the COVID year it helped windle out problems with teams and just growing on what they’ve had. Every team has come back this year and approved, that goes for the top guys and the bottom guys.” 

The first round bye in the playoffs for the Lakers, leaves a potential of three different teams that could be coming to Oswego State on March 2. This means the team cannot particularly focus on a matchup during practice this week. They instead are waiting to see how the cards fall on Feb. 26 first. Antonucci mentioned how there is no face to the visualization quite yet. 

“With a faceless opponent right now we are just focused on what we can do,” Antonucci said. “Nothing about who we are going to play. Whoever we are going to play, we are going to be prepared for. [Next week] we can focus on the X’s and O’s of who we will play. But for now it is tightening up those areas we need to improve on and I think we are doing a good job of that in the practices right now.” 

The senior continued to mention the theme of this week’s efforts as “good habits” and “good chemistry,” something the team has had at most points this year. 

The Lakers are still trying to make the NCAA Tournament for the first time since the 2018-19 season. Oswego State was 19-6-2 and was featured inside the Top 5 of the USCHO National Rankings for most of the season. Making an at-large bid to the tournament an easy get after losing the automatic bid to SUNY Geneseo. 

The at-large bid would be a harder ask to receive this year as the team is currently sitting No. 12 in the rankings. A fringe team for receiving one all season, has been the discussion for many experts that study the matter for NCAA Div. III. Meaning the best way to qualify for the “Big Dance” is to win the SUNYAC, putting more pressure on next week. 

Gosek put this in perspective, as the college playoffs for hockey are one-and-done. Meaning, a loss at any point ends the Lakers season going forward, barring a potential life rescue in the form of an at-large bid. 

“This time of year you want to keep playing and keep that mentality,” Gosek said. “It’s a grind. A change for our guys coming from juniors, everything is a three-game or five-game series, so if you have one bad game it doesn’t end your season. In college, it is one game, survive and advance or you are done.” 

William Rogers | The Oswegonian