The Oswego State club hockey team faced the Rhode Island University Rams on Sept. 29 and 30. Both games were competitive; the Lakers were able to pull away with a win in the first game, but took their first loss of the season in the second game.
The Lakers immediately put the pressure on the Rams in the first game, as the Lakers put up the first score of the game off a goal from Ryan Durand five minutes into the contest. He was assisted by Andrew Cardi and Duncan Crawford. However, the Rams would respond on a power play just under 12 minutes into the game, and the first period ended at a score of 1-1.
The Lakers found themselves in a hole in the second period, as the Rams jumped to a 2-1 lead just six minutes into the second period. The Lakers answered this with two goals of their own, the first one coming just under 13 minutes into the period from Josh Laravia on a power play, assisted by Anthony Divita and Jeremy Keyes. The second goal was just three minutes later when Keyes found the net, assisted by Carter McWilliams and Trevor Jubran, ending the period with a 3-2 Lakers lead.
The Rams tied the score at the beginning of the third period on another power play. Nonetheless, Jubran scored the game-winning goal with 11 minutes left in the period, assisted by McWilliams and Benjamin Keever. Durand added a goal to put the cherry on top with 30 seconds left with an empty-net goal, giving the Lakers a 5-3 win.
Jubran, who left the game with the game winner and an assist, thought it was a superb team victory.
“It’s a great feeling,” Jubran said. “Carter (McWilliams) throws a great shot on the net…I think even Jeremy (Keyes) hit my stick to put the puck in. It was a great goal and that was a good Rhode Island team. It was a good team win; our offense was firing on all cylinders.”
Cardi opened up the scoring in the second game, as he found the net just under 13 minutes in the first period, assisted by Divita and Durand. This was the only goal of the first period.
The Lakers immediately added to that score in the second period, as Nathan Hutchens scored his first goal of the season 15 seconds into the period, assisted by Stephen Matro and Adam Jubran. The Rams knocked that lead down to one by the end of the period, scoring with just over three minutes to go to bring the score to 2-1.
Unfortunately for the Lakers, a fire drill after the second period deflated the momentum they had going. The Rams found the net three straight times late in the third period, and they won the game by a score of 4-2.
Head coach Travis Hyde chalks it up not being locked in as the reason for the fall off in the second game.
“We came out in the third period and we were a little flat,” Hyde said. “We were distracted and disrupted from that [fire drill]. We just got outplayed in the third; they came with some firepower…I think we had some mental fatigue and some unfocused attention to what we needed to get done.”
Penalties were the story of the weekend, as the Lakers gave up three powerplay goals and a short-handed one. Hyde will make discipline the focus of his team.
“I definitely voiced my frustration to the guys,” Hyde said. “You have to be disciplined; you have to work harder to make sure you do not have lazy penalties…The penalties that are frustrating are the controllable ones…It’s something that we are working on.”
Overall, the Lakers move to 5-1 on the season, and Keyes believes the team is exactly where it should be at this point in the season.
“I think we are doing great honestly,” Keyes said. “We are right where we are supposed to be; 5-1 is a great record and Rhode Island is a great team. We lost to them twice last year so it feels really good to beat them this time.”
The Lakers continue their road trip as they go on to face Stony Brook University on Oct. 7 and 8.
Photo via: Aubrey Fischer
