After another mediocre weekend the Lakers will travel to Potsdam to take on the Bears today with two away games. If Oswego State wants to right the ship on this slow start this may be the perfect spot. Both teams sit within one point of each other in the ECAC West standings and it should be an exciting two games of hockey.
SUNY Potsdam seems to be fitting their projections for this year. They finished 5-12-1 in conference play last year and seem to be on pace for those numbers again. This will be a true measuring stick for Oswego State early on in the season.
On the other side of things Oswego State seems to be under performing to start the 2015-2016 campaign. They consistently get off to slow starts and are always trying to dig out the hole they get put in for the the rest of the game. The Lakers are the not so proud owners of a -5 first period goal differential.
In my last post game story Coach Diane Dillon was stressing that her team needs to have better starts and they will change their practice plans to achieve such. After a week of practice the results should be somewhat visible in tonight’s game and we’ll see if it helps the Lakers’ woes.
For both teams the season is still up for grabs but as the year moves on quickly it becomes harder for coaches to preach the “we are still in this” speech. A few more weekends go by and if these to teams keep losing it will be a total uphill battle the rest of the year. These two games could really show the true state of this conference.
This game is all about identity.
Players to Watch
Oswego State: Alyssa Brockmann
The SUNY Potsdam transfer has been playing good defense all year alongside Kendall Appelbaum on the first defensive pairing. She should be extra motivated tonight and should be matched up against Jordan Ott who leads the team with six points and recently moved up to fourth on the Potsdam Bears all-time scoring list.
SUNY Potsdam: Jordan Ott
Ott is the leading scorer on the Bears and is tied for seventh in goals in all of division III women’s hockey. The Lakers were matched up with another top scorer in Morgan Reed last weekend and allowed six points to her in two games. Ott should be the best forward on Potsdam and they we will need her to win tonight.
Game Prediction
We’ll see how the Lakers can handle Jordan Ott and also if the change in practice plans does anything for them. The Lakers have been under performing this year and this should be a game they need to go out and win. If they can get off to a good start and score, can’t stress that enough, they should win this game.
Lakers win 3-1
