The No. 6/7 Oswego State men's ice hockey team never trailed in a battle of two of the nation's best teams, defeating Hobart College on Saturday night at home.
Oswego held a two-goal advantage at three points in the tilt and fought past a couple of narrow one-goal margins in the second and third periods.
THE BASICS
- Results: Oswego 4, Hobart 2
- Location: Marano Campus Center Arena – Oswego, N.Y.
- Records: Oswego (3-0-0) | Hobart (3-2-0)
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Oswego jumped out to a hot start with a 2-0 lead with less than eight minutes remaining in the first period.
- Jody Sullivan started the scoring as he crept in past the blue line and punished a wrister past the Statesmen goalie's right shoulder just under the crossbar at 11:11.
- Less than two minutes later, the Lakers made Hobart pay for a holding penalty with a goal at 12:48.
- Travis Broughman had a solid chance in front of the net but a Hobart save contributed to a scrum for the rebound. Anthony Passero had the wherewithal to sneak his stick between a defender's legs and punch out the puck to an undefended Aaron Huffnagle for a tally.
- Hobart would cut the deficit in half before the first intermission as Julien Denicourt scored from the point with Laker goalie David Richer unable to see the shot through traffic.
- Denicourt would not make it to the intermission, however, receiving a 5-minute boarding penalty and a game misconduct with 1:38 left in the first.
- In a penalty-riddled middle period, Oswego was the only team to find the back of the net.
- Michael Gillespie flipped a pass out of the Lakers' defensive zone to Passero, who used a give-and-go with Derek Brown to make it a 3-1 Oswego advantage.
- Hobart made it tense with an early goal in the final 20 minutes but the Laker defense held the Statesmen at bay, giving way to a final seconds, empty-net goal by Mitch Emerson.
- Emerson was assisted by Broughman and Devin Campbell, who cleared the puck out of the Laker zone with a Statesmen skater nearby.
- Oswego dominated most statistical categories on the night, including shots on-goal (23-14), faceoffs won (37-22) and blocked shots (9-5).
- Special teams were solid on the night as well, as the penalty-kill unit prevented Hobart from scoring on two chances while the Lakers recorded a power-play goal on four opportunities.
- Richer moved to 2-0-0 on the year, making 12 saves, including a one-on-none shorthanded attempt by the Statesmen in the second period.
WHAT'S NEXT
Oswego will trek west next weekend, facing Fredonia at 7 p.m. on Friday to jump start a SUNYAC road weekend.
