When Matt Zawadzki was going through the recruitment process four years ago, he visited Oswego State during Whiteout Weekend. He got to experience the game that gets even students who know nothing about hockey to stand in long lines leading up to the game, then pack the arena and cheer.
That atmosphere is one the coaches like to expose a group of prospective future Lakers to each year in hopes it will bring them to the shores of Lake Ontario. In Zawadzki’s case, it did.
When new players arrive, they are taught that winning Whiteout is important. It is not the same as winning the home tournament over break or a SUNYAC title in March, but it is a rivalry game that matters.
“I know what this game means to the town,” Zawadzki said. “I know what it means to us being in the championship game, no matter who we’re playing, we’re excited for this moment and it’s going to be fun.”
The seniors on this year’s team are making their last postseason run and they still have never beaten the SUNY Plattsburgh Cardinals in the Marano Campus Center Ice Arena. They have three wins on the road at Stafford Ice Arena, but remain winless at home.
This group made an unexpected Frozen Four run as freshmen, then nearly did it again the following year. It won a league title in dramatic fashion at Geneseo in 2014 and has picked up three PathFinder Bank/Oswego State Hockey Classic wins as well. It even captured its first SUNYAC regular season title this year. But still no rivalry win at home.
The Laker seniors’ lone SUNYAC title win was Zawadzki’s biggest learning experience during his collegiate career. The senior netminder has not faced SUNY Plattsburgh this season, but he has played in each of his team’s 13 postseason games during his career. That 7-6 victory at Geneseo when he was a freshman taught him a game can come down to one save.
“That’s my mentality,” Zawadzki said. “It’s not about the numbers on the board. It’s just about staying in the game and staying with that moment. If that moment asks for you to attack it, you’ve just got to be there and hope we get in front of it and the puck doesn’t end up behind me.”
The Cardinals 2-1 upset win over the Lakers last month was just another link in the chain as they climbed their way up the league standings during the second half of the season. SUNY Plattsburgh went from the outside looking into the SUNYAC playoffs in January to a first round bye when all was said and done. Now, they enter the Marano Campus Center with momentum and a chance to sneak into the NCAA Tournament.
Oswego State is fully aware of how talented their opponent is. Senior defenseman Sean Federow has complete confidence in his team to get the job done, including whoever is in net. They have to keep the Cardinals shooting from out wide and not let them carry the puck in deep.
“I think we square up with them pretty well,” Federow said. “Last game was a little bit of a disappointment but there’s mistakes that we’ve fixed and we’ve recognized in our game, and because of that game we’ve become a better team. I don’t it’s going to happen again.”
Since this senior class stormed back in the third period to knock SUNY Plattsburgh out of the playoffs as freshmen, the birds from the North Country have owned the series when March comes around. They got their revenge in 2015, dashing the Lakers’ hopes of repeating as league champions, then won again in the semifinals last year. All three games were decided by one goal.
The 2017 chapter of the SUNYAC playoffs is the sixth consecutive that will include a stanza between SUNY Plattsburgh and Oswego State. Lakers assistant coach Jon Whitelaw played in the first two, including a SUNYAC title clincher in 2013. He knows this win is big for rivalry sake, but also for making one last NCAA push.
“We don’t want to not face toughest opponents and whatnot going forward,” Whitelaw said. “We think having the opportunity to play Plattsburgh, to play at home, having lost to them at home earlier this season, it’s only going to set us up even better hopefully going forward.”
