The Oswego State men’s hockey season comes to an end once again in the SUNYAC Championship game as the Lakers fell a few weeks ago to Plattsburgh State in the Deborah F. Stanley Arena.

Oswego State finished with a 17-9-1 record and a 12-4-0 conference record. For the first time since the 2017-18 season, the Lakers secured the No.1 seed in the postseason conference tournament. 

Oswego State head coach Ed Gosek has had some time to reflect on the season as a whole. After finishing his 20th season as the bench boss, Gosek has no regrets on how the season ended against the Cardinals which ended with a 2-1 loss back on March 4. 

“We played well and had our chances,” Gosek said. “[Plattsburgh State] was opportunistic. Their goalie played extremely well and ours played well. It was just one of those games. Would we have done a few things differently? Probably. But, all and all, it is not like we played a poor game and got out-worked.”

This season featured a roller coaster of results as the team came in and out of the win column. The team went on a seven-game win streak at the beginning of the year after falling to Hobart College who would go on to the NCAA Div.III tournament. This win streak featured wins against ranked opponents like Elmira College and SUNY Geneseo.

“We got an idea of our identity and started to play better,” Gosek said. “We had the three-game skid there with Skidmore College, Morrisville State and Utica University. We rebounded from that and headed into the break…our schedule was a roller coaster, but it was never a consistent reason why.”

The goal is always the SUNYAC Championship and a shot at the national championship through the NCAA Div.III tournament. 

“If you look at the national statistics and we would have met the goals we had of scoring four and giving up two, 25 percent on the power play, and 90 percent on the penalty kill, we would have been in the final four or at least making the national tournament. I think our goal as a team are spot on with what we need to do but now how do we address it and move forward. I think a big part of it is special teams.”

At the end of the year, the power play finished with a conversion percentage of 19.6% after 19 goals on 97 opportunities. On the penalty kill, the Lakers killed 73 out of 90 chances for opponents and finished with an 81.1 efficiency percentage. Both percentages for the special teams are below the Lakers numbers from the 2021-22 season.

Six Lakers players are in this year’s graduating class, including their leadership group and a goaltender. After four seasons, captain Ryan Bunka graduated with 64 games played and 22 points. Bunka was one of the few players left that was in Oswego prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Alternate captain Alex DiCarlo was another player who played on the 2019-20 team that graduated this year. DiCarlo already signed a professional contract with the Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs in the Southern Professional Hockey League (SPHL).

“I am extremely happy for Ryan Bunka,” Gosek said. “He battled through adversity early on with being in and out of the lineup and getting himself in better shape and making a commitment to his health and wellbeing. He battled through it and did not make excuses or transfer. We are excited that he came back and had a great senior year and was elected captain…Alex DiCarlo was near the top in scoring and he is getting started on his career after [Oswego]. He steadily improved when he was here which is awesome.”

The freshman class this season featured a bunch of players that had huge initial impacts and played big minutes for the Lakers. Cal Schell played in 23 games this season registering over 1,200 minutes in between the pipes for Oswego State. Schell posted a 2.13 goals against average and a .923 save percentage with two shutouts in his rookie campaign.

Brett Fudger, Connor Gatto and Drake Semrad all found time in the Lakers uniform which featured the trio of freshmen for a majority of games this season. Gatto became a solid piece in the top six forwards with eight points in 26 games played. Due to injuries, Semrad was rushed into big minutes in the defensive core with 25 games played. 

Gosek and the rest of the Lakers will head into the offseason and prepare for another campaign that kicks off in October. For the coaching staff, the coaches will secure the next group of Lakers that will take the ranks in the green and gold. 

“You are always lifelong learners,” Gosek said. “We never sit here and have big egos and act as we are the best coaches. We are constantly trying to observe pro teams and figure out how they are doing? Why are they doing? Recruiting, trying to improve our team speed…We made a lot of gains this year with our staff with our ability to spend individual time with players in film review and the weight room. That is clearly a step in the right direction.”

Lakers faithful will have to wait to see if the Oswego State men’s hockey team can take another step on the ice. The players will head into the offseason and prepare off the ice for the 2023-24 campaign.

Photo via Hannah Pinnock