By Jack Perdek
For the first time in two years, the Oswego State women’s hockey team will take the ice for a playoff game since March 3, 2020.
On March 1 the Lakers will host the SUNY Cortland Red Dragons on their home ice at 7 p.m. the second and third seeds in the NEWHL (North East Women’s Hockey League) will face off for their fourth game of the season. The Lakers are the beneficiary of the last two match-ups beating the Red Dragons 5-4 in December and 2-1 in January.
Head coach Mark Digby knows this game will be a challenge considering the talent SUNY Cortland has in their skaters. He says they are able to put a lot of points up and the goal is to keep the puck out of their defensive zone as much as possible.
“They’re probably the most dynamic team in our league,” Digby said. “They have a lot of skill in their forwards. They play with a lot of confidence and if you can find a way to keep them off the scoreboard then I think you have a chance. They have great goaltending and good coaching, and it will be a heck of a game they have a really good team.”
In their last game against the Red Dragons captain of the Lakers, Philomena Teggart was able to put one behind the net along with second-leading scorer Morgan Shines. This season Shines has tallied nine goals, 10 assists and 68 shots on goal this season. She credits her role on this team as being a strong leader and learning from her coaching staff.
“I think I was able to evolve quickly because at the beginning of the year more than half the team had never played a game, let alone practice together because of COVID and I realized even though I only got to play one year of college hockey it was more than other players on the team so I needed to step up and be that leader for them,” Shines said. “I also think coach Digby has been a big influence on my improvement, not only in a hockey sense but with my attitude and leadership mentality which started freshman year and has been going in the right direction ever since.”
Shine’s improvement has been part of the key to success on the Laker’s nine-game win streak heading into the postseason. The sophomore from Marengo, Illinois. says she has found a home and a positive environment here at Oswego State.
“Over the past couple of weeks, we’ve been going in a positive direction off the ice and you can see that it translates to on the ice as well,” Shines said. “When the whole team clicks off the ice, everything on the ice just comes naturally. I think our success comes from inside the locker room and the talk on the bench, the atmosphere is loud and supportive which motivates everyone to do their best for the team. I think we play best when everyone is supporting and moving the puck and from our success, you could say we’re doing it pretty well right now.”
Now with the NEWHL playoffs knocking at the door, Shines and the lakeshow will have to keep their win streak in order to keep their season alive. This first semi-final game will not be the easiest considering that in Oswego State, the Lakers are 12-11-6 against SUNY Cortland. In this case, the game is 50-50 and every play is going to matter.
The gameplan from Digby’s perspective is simple, control the puck longer than the team in red and spend more time in their zone. They were able to do this in their regular season finale against Buffalo State. Digby said that this level of play has been consistent during this win streak.
“I thought we were able to possess the puck well and I thought we made smart decisions with the puck in the offensive zone,” Digby said. “You look back at our last nine games and at William Smith, I’m not sure how many times we’ve given up more than 20 shots. I think when you have good goaltending and defense you’re gonna have success and I think that’s a mindset thing to be consistent in all three zones.”
With the advantage of home ice for the SUNY Cortland game, Digby said the team deserves it because of their hard work and grit this season.
“I think it’s a testament to their consistency throughout the course of the season. When you play in a league as good as we do, it’s difficult to take points,” Digby said. “We talked about that earlier on in the year with just the commitment to constancy and earlier on in the year it’s hard to see that sometimes when you get to this point in the year; and you get really close to a tie for second place it makes that Potsdam point in the first half very big.”
The Lakers tied SUNY Potsdam on Nov. 7. which ultimately gave them the tying point over the Red Dragons to lock up the second seed in the NEWHL. With all eyes on Tuesdays puck drop, Digby wants the team to view it liek another 60 minutes of Laker hockey.
“We just have to take care of business,” Digby said. Not be scoreboard watching, and if we do that we’ll end up in a good place.”
Photos provided by Oswego State Athletics
