The nationally-ranked Oswego State men's ice hockey team tied 4-4 in overtime for the second-straight day, this time against Utica College in The Toyota Frozen Dome Classic on Saturday afternoon at Syracuse University's Carrier Dome. Oswego and Utica brought 7,047 spectators into the Dome, setting a new NCAA Division III attendance mark for a men's ice hockey contest. The previous mark was set in the NCAA Championship semifinal between Elmira College and Plattsburgh in 2008 when 5,600 fans witnessed the game at Herb Brooks Arena in Lake Placid.
With the tie, the Lakers are now 5-0-2 on the season while the Pioneers move to 1-4-2.
Oswego scored twice in the first period, starting with Mitchell Herlihey's sixth of the season off a pass from Matt Galati at 2:19. Exactly 13 minutes later, Chris Raguseo scored his first of the 2014-15 campaign to put the Lakers ahead 2-0. Teammate Krystian Yorke assisted Raguseo on the tally that came at 15:19.
Utica replied with two of its own in the first ten minutes of the middle period. The Pioneers' second score came at 9:18 to knot the game at 2-2. Oswego would not let the game stay even for long, notching a point just 1:20 later.
Chris Waterstreet nabbed his first of the year when he poked home a goal sitting just outside the crease after Morgan Bonner found him with a pass. With Waterstreet's goal, the Lakers regained the lead at 3-2 and held that advantage into the final intermission.
In the third period, Utica brought the game back to a tie at 3-3 with a goal just 51 seconds into the stanza. The play of the game came at 2:40 when Oswego scored the go-ahead goal. In a crazy turn of events, Utica shot at Matt Zawadzki who made a save but the puck fell just behind him near the goal line. Mike Wills made a great play to not only get the puck out of the crease but found teammate Brandon Adams streaking down the boards. Wills sent a hard pass to Adams in stride and junior took over from there, breaking away and beating the Utica goalie with a backhand flip over the tender's shoulder.
The 4-3 edge lasted for 10 minutes until an Oswego penalty gave way to a Utica power-play goal at 12:34.
A few minutes later, it seemed as though Herlihey had scored his second of the day and given the lead back to Oswego. Herlihey's shot hit the crossbar and deflected down with the goal light flashing for a moment before the referees called it off. After the replay showed over the Dome's video boards, a discussion ensued but to no avail as the call was not reversed. The teams then played the final minutes of regulation and the five-minute overtime without a deciding goal.
Zawadzki made 32 saves in just second appearance of the year, making several clutch glove saves throughout the game.
Oswego, the nation's best offense on the power-play, was unable to get an extra-man opportunity on the afternoon as the Pioneers were never whistled for an infraction.
The Lakers will be back in action at 7 p.m. on Tuesday when they host No. 12/13 Geneseo in a rematch of the 2014 SUNYAC Tournament championship game.
