Rolling
A win tonight for Oswego State would match their longest win streak to start the season since 2014-2015. The next most recent streak was an eight-gamer in the 2012-2013 season. Oswego State currently leads the SUNYAC in goals with 23 and SUNY Cortland has allowed 21 goals to start the season, the most in the conference 21. The Lakers have not scored less than five goals in a game all season and are playing a team tonight that allowed 11 in a single game to SUNY Geneseo. This win streak could continue tonight.
100-Point Watch
Alex Botten reached the 100-point club thanks to his three-point night after some scoring changes. Shawn Hulshof still sits three points shy of that mark at 97. Matt Galati sits at 92 and Kenny Neil has 85 career points. Two straight games with a player reaching that mark? Seems pretty plausible considering SUNY Cortland allowed SUNY Geneseo’s top scorer, Stephen Collins, to get on the scoresheet four times in their rout over the Red Dragons.
Freshmen Surge
The Red Dragons have seen four freshmen step up for them this year in the scoring department. Stefano Alonzi, Dougie Elgstam, Aidan Salerno and Wilson Vershay have been a big part of the Red Dragons’ 2-2-0 overall start. Through four games, SUNY Cortland hasn’t had a .500 record or above to start the season since 2011. This freshmen class could develop into an impressive core to build around in the future. Alonzi has five assists thus far and is tied with Cortland’s top forward, Darren McCormick, who has five points (3-2-5) in four games. Without much knowledge or tape out there on these four freshmen, they could pose some problems for the Laker defense early on.
Lineup Card
The top six stays the same, as they should. The top two lines have combined for an astounding 33 points just four games in. Tyson Bruce will play in his first career game tonight and is the most recent member of the carousel on the wing of the third line. Joey Scorpio and Eric Lipa will be centered by Chris Waterstreet on the fourth line.
Joey Rutkowski will not be paired to start with Chris Raguseo for the first time this season. He’s paired with Stephen Johnson, who is coming off his game-winning goal in the final minute of the Geneseo victory. Johnson is leading all SUNYAC defenseman in scoring (1-6-7) and playing with Rutkowski, who hasn’t tallied a point yet this year but is patient with the puck and isn’t afraid to step up into the play. This duo could be very intriguing in the future if they mesh in this game.
OSW Lines:
Neil-Botten-Hulshof
Sullivan-Davies-Galati
Herlihey-Barton-Bruce
Scorpio-Waterstreet-Lipa
Brun-Hart
Raguseo-MacMillan
Johnson-Rutkowski
Jacobson
COR Lines:
McCormick-Crowley-Broderick
Alonzi-Elgstam-Beck
Fregeau-McCann-Noal
Brown-Perichak-Garrison
Zack-Gleason
Salerno-Vershay
Lavallee-Lauer
Weigman
Players to Watch
Lakers-David Jacobson
Jacobson has been a reliable netminder this season in both games he appeared in. The three goals he allowed against Elmira College aren’t what he envisioned going in, but he gave his team a chance to win and that’s all you can ask for out of your goalie. Head coach Ed Gosek has done a good job thus far giving his Div. I transfer easier assignments and this should help keep him in a constant rotation.
Red Dragons-Dan Broderick
The junior captain of this year’s team has scored a goal and assisted on another. Two points in four games is a very respectable number, but in both games last season he failed to register a point in close games with the Lakers. He will try to end his year-long point drought against Oswego State tonight playing on Cortland’s top line.
By The Numbers
Goals Per Game
OSW: 5.75
COR: 3.50
Goals Against Per Game
OSW: 2.00
COR: 5.25
Powerplay
OSW: 6-21 (28.6%)
COR: 4-21 (19.0%)
Penalty Kill
OSW: 17-19 (89.5%)
COR: 28-37 (75.7%)
*Overall Statistics
Game Prediction
Special teams could be the difference maker tonight for the Lakers. Oswego State owns third-rated powerplay unit in the SUNYAC and will be going up against a team that has taken the second most penalties in the conference and holds the third worst penalty killing unit. The Red Dragons have allowed nine powerplay goals this year, and anytime that number dips below 85 percent there are some major issues that need to be worked out.
Jody Sullivan continues his goal scoring streak, the powerplay unit nets two and the Lakers cruise to an easy victory to start their four-game road swing.
Lakers win 5-1.
