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The No. 3/4 Oswego State men's ice hockey team (18-3-2 overall, 13-0-1 SUNYAC) will host a pair of opponents this weekend. First, the Potsdam Bears (9-9-5 overall, 5-7-2 SUNYAC) come to Oswego at 7 p.m. on Friday followed by the Plattsburgh Cardinals (12-11-0 overall, 6-8-0 SUNYAC) at the same start time on Saturday in the Marano Campus Center Arena.
This will be the 11th annual Whiteout Weekend hosted by Oswego. Friday night will be First Responders Appreciation Night, while Saturday will be Senior Night, as the Lakers will be honoring captain Mitch Herlihey, Trent Durocher and David Ferreira.
On Friday, Oswego will recognize Hometown Hero Kevin Dice. Dice has volunteered for Pack and Troop 888 in Oswego, serving as a den leader, cubmaster and committee chairman. Also, Dice has served as a corporate member for the Oswego Town Volunteer Fire Department for more than 10 years.
In Friday's game against Potsdam, Oswego will look to continue its three-game win streak against the Bears. Since the start of last season, the Lakers have outscored the Bears 18-5. When the Lakers played Potsdam earlier this season, they handled the Bears, 7-1. The team scored three power-play goals and sophomore goaltender David Richer saved 24-of-25 shots he faced.
On Saturday, Oswego will honor Hometown Hero Billy Barlow, who has been Oswego's mayor since 2016. Barlow is currently the youngest seated mayor in New York. Since Barlow has been in office, Oswego was awarded $10 million from Gov. Andrew Cuomo's Downtown Revitalization Initiative.
Saturday night's game will be the 121st meeting between arch-rivals Oswego and Plattsburgh. Oswego has defeated the Cardinals by three goals in the past two road games. First, the Lakers downed the Cardinals 4-1 on Nov. 19, 2016, then they beat the Cardinals 5-2 earlier this season (Dec. 9).
Richer and Herlihey both earned conference honors this week, with Herlihey being named the SUNYAC Athlete of the Week and Richer being named the SUNYAC Goalie of the Week. Herlihey earned four points in two games over the weekend, including a pair of goals against Geneseo to earn his 100th career point. Richer allowed only two goals to Geneseo, the conference's highest-scoring offense, and just one goal at Brockport the next day, receiving the award for the second-straight week.
As a team, Oswego currently ranks in the top-20 in the country in goals per game, goals-allowed per game, power-play efficiency and penalty kill-percentage, one of only five teams in the nation to be ranked that high in all four categories.
With the victory against then-No. 7/7 Geneseo on Friday, the Lakers clinched the SUNYAC regular-season crown and will be the No. 1 seed for the conference tournament. They will be hosting a SUNYAC Championship semifinal game at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 24 in the Marano Campus Center Arena against the lowest remaining seed in the tournament.
Limited tickets remain for the Potsdam contest while the Plattsburgh tilt has already sold out. For those looking to secure tickets for the Lakers against the Bears, tickets.oswego.edu will have access online, call 315-312-3073 or the box office hours of operation for the next few days are as follows:
Wednesday, Feb 14: 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Thursday, Feb. 15: 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Friday, Feb. 16: 10 a.m. – 8:30 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 17: 1 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.
SUNYAC semifinal tickets for the public will be made available for purchase beginning on Wednesday, Feb. 21. The box office will be open Wednesday, Thursday and Friday for its normal hours of operation (10 a.m. – 5 p.m.).
