Oswego State takes on the Nazareth Golden Flyers today in the consolation game of the Northfield Savings Bank Holiday Tournament.

The Lakers fell to the Williams College Ephs yesterday for their second consecutive loss, while Nazareth fell 3-1 to Norwich University to set up the days match up.

Last Night

The Lakers battled back from a 2-0 and 3-2 deficit in yesterdays game, only to fall in overtime 4-3. After winning their first ten games, the Lakers now find themselves on a two game skid, looking to avoid last place in this weekends tournament. This current slump has highlighted the biggest Laker flaw all season, and began to exploit it.

Through 12 games this season, there have been many games in which the Lakers have needed to rally past early deficits, and were able to do so. However, in the last two games, they have not been able to put their slow starts behind them, and in all likelihood will lose their grasp on the top ranking because of it.

What it Comes Down To

On paper, Oswego is icing a much better team than Nazareth, but the result may paint a different picture. Though by far the most talented team on the ice, the Lakers have not yet shown the ability to come out of the gate hot consistently. Oswego will need to get out to a fast and confident start in order to get back to playing their brand of spectacular hockey.

Nazareth is coming in facing a large talent gap, but with the Lakers reeling with two straight losses, the Golden Flyers must be salivating at their opportunity to take down a vulnerable top ranked team. If Nazareth can come out swinging tomorrow and maintain solid defensive hockey, they have a great shot to pull the upset.

In The Crease

Matt Zawadki gets the nod from Gosek again for today’s game, coming off his first loss in the 2016-17 campaign yesterday. It is the first break in the rotation between Zawadzki and David Jacobson, and most likely means that Jacobson will start next weekends tournament.

Lineup Card

OSW

Herlihey-Barton-Galati

Neil-Botten-Hulshof

Berry-Davies-Emerson

Huffnagle-Waterstreet-Ferreira

Defense

Brun-Hart

Raguseo-MacMillan

Federow-Rutkowski

Goalie

Zawadzki

Prediction

The Lakers have not faced this much adversity all season, but a veteran laden squad will be hungry to correct the recent mistakes. Nazareth will be looking to chop down a stumbling powerhouse at its knees. Watch for the Golden Flyers to come out strong, but Gosek and Co. will attempt to use their talent to weather the storm and correct the teams chronic slow starts. Conventional wisdom says Lakers win, and that is what this prediction will follow. However, this one won’t be as easy for Oswego as most would think.

Lakers win 6-5 in overtime