The No. 4/4 Oswego State Lakers defeated the No. 7/7 Geneseo Knights 4-2 to clinch the best record in the SUNYAC standings. Mitch Herlihey notched the 99th and 100th points of his career with 2 goals on the night. David Richer stopped 21 shots in net for the Lakers.
The Lakers got out in front early in this battle of top 10 teams. AJ D’Orazio scored off a deflection to put the Lakers up 1-0 less than 5 minutes into the first period. Less than 2 minutes later, Laker senior Mitch Herlihey scored the second goal of the night on assists from Michael Gillespie and Josh Zizek.
The Lakers had all the momentum during the first period. Geneseo failed to stay on the attack offensively, only getting 4 shots during the period. Geneseo had an opportunity on the power play at 7:25 of the first, but the Lakers successfully killed the man advantage.
Later in the first, the Lakers went on their first power play of the night at 15:06 due to a Mitch Ferguson tripping penalty. 40 seconds into the power play Cameron Berry found the back of the net to make the score 3-0 in favor of Oswego State. His goal was assisted by Mitch Emerson and Chris MacMillan.
Laker forward Mitch Emerson got called for slashing with 1:32 left in the first period, but the Lakers killed the penalty early in the second period. The Lakers were called for another penalty midway through the second when Chris Pelnik was called for interference at 13:27. Oswego State killed what was a very physical power play chance for Geneseo to keep the score at 3-0.
The physical play continued when both sides were fighting in front of the Laker goal midway through the second. At 13:29 of the second period Geneseo’s Gordon Helmuth was called for both goaltender interference and roughing while Oswego State’s Tyler Currie was called for roughing. Geneseo ended up killing the man advantage to keep the score at 3-0.
Oswego State’s Joseph Molinaro went to the box with 2:25 left in the second period for slashing, but Geneseo failed to capitalize on their 4th power play chance of the night.
Four minutes into the third period, Oswego State’s Josh Zizek was called for interference when Geneseo’s Conlan Keenan was on the breakaway, leading to a penalty shot. Keenan’s penalty shot attempt on goalie David Richer hit the post and missed.
Geneseo’s Tanner Salsberry was called for tripping at 7:13 of the third period to give the Lakers their 3rd power play chance of the night. The Lakers were unsuccessful on that attempt, but finished the game 1-3 on the powerplay.
Geneseo finally got on the board with Conlan Keenan’s goal at 10:32 of the third period. Keenan’s goal was assisted by Arthur Gordon and Andrew Romano and came less than three minutes after Keenan missed a penalty shot.
Geneseo got another chance on the powerplay after Cameron Berry was called for tripping with 6:31 remaining in the game. The Lakers killed off that big power play for Geneseo to keep it a 2 goal game.
Geneseo pulled the goalie with a little over 2 minutes left to try and pull closer. The Knights did just that with exactly 2 minutes remaining in the third. Duggie Lagrone scored the goal, trimming the Laker lead down to 3-2.
Mitch Herlihey’s empty net goal was the 100th point of his career and sealed the 4-2 win for Oswego State.
The Lakers next game will be on the road against The College at Brockport Saturday Feb. 10.
