The No. 1/1 Oswego State men's ice hockey team erased a two-goal deficit with four unanswered tallies to end the game in a 4-2 victory at Fredonia on Friday night. Oswego's win keeps the team perfect on the year at 10-0-0 overall and 8-0-0 in the SUNYAC while the Blue Devils drop to 4-5-1, 4-4-1.
Neither team was able to get on the board in the first period but Fredonia posted back-to-back goals in a 2:01 span early in the second period. In the final minute of the middle period, the Lakers notched a pair of scores just 17 seconds apart to even the game. The first came from Shawn Hulshof at 19:20 with an assist from Sean Federow, who returned to the ice on Friday after a layoff due to injury. At 19:37, senior Kenny Neil recorded the equalizer unassisted to make it an even game with 20 minutes left in regulation.
Senior Matt Galati took care of the rest in the third period, scoring the eventual game-winner at 8:52 before adding an insurance goal less than four minutes later. Federow earned his second point of the night with an assist on the Lakers' third goal while junior Mitchell Herlihey and senior Andrew Barton helped on the final tally of the night.
The Oswego penalty-kill unit was crucial in the triumph, holding the Blue Devils off the scoreboard on five extra-man opportunities. In fact, the Lakers allowed just three shots in those five chances while they took two shorthanded shots over that time.
Matt Zawadzki was pressured a bit more in each period, as Fredonia took seven shots in the first, nine in the second and 11 in the final period. Those 11 third period saves brought the senior's total to 27 on the night to improve to 5-0-0 on the year.
The Lakers will head to Buffalo State for its next game, facing the Bengals at 7 p.m. on Saturday before a nearly 20-day break from competition.
