Road to the Championship

The Oswego State Lakers finished their regular season with a 4-2 win on senior day over SUNY Potsdam. The previous weekend, on Feb. 11 against SUNY Cortland, the Lakers were able to clinch the No. 3 seed for the NEWHL playoffs. They traveled to No. 2 Buffalo State on Feb. 24 for the NEWHL semifinals. With two-goal performances from Jean-Marie Padden and Olivia Ellis, the Lakers were able to complete the upset and took a 5-0 victory over the Bengals. Mariah Madrigal made 24 saves for her fourth shutout of the season.

The Plattsburgh State Cardinals closed out their regular season with a four-game win streak, with their last regular season game against Buffalo State. On senior day, the Cardinals overtook the Bengals 4-1 after defeating them 9-1 on Feb. 17. After clinching the No. 1 seed in the NEWHL playoffs with a 15-0-1 conference record, they had home-ice advantage as SUNY Potsdam traveled to the Ronald B. Stafford Ice Arena. The Cardinals, behind a four-point performance from Melissa Sheeran, dominated the Bears 6-1 to advance to the finals.

Season Recap

The Lakers and the Cardinals faced each other four times during the regular season as conference rivals in the Northeast Women’s Hockey League. The Cardinals took the season series 3-0-1 with two shutouts.

In the first weekend series between the two teams on Nov. 18 and 19, the Cardinals on 4-0 both times at the Ronald B. Stafford Ice Arena. During the first game, Mariah Madrigal went down with a knee injury that kept her out for the remainder of the fall semester. She returned in early January before the semester began. Amber Samonek took over the crease during the time Madrigal was injured, and suffered the second 4-0 loss.

The second weekend series proved to be much better for the Lakers, despite going 1-0-1 against the Cardinals during the weekend. Oswego State suffered a 6-2 loss on Feb. 2 at the Marano Campus Center Ice Arena. But, in a big bounce-back from the Lakers’ defense, the Lakers tied the then-No. 1/2 Plattsburgh State Cardinals 2-2 after a five-minute overtime period. Victoria Blake tied the game with 16.8 seconds remaining in regulation to send the game to overtime.

Olivia Ellis had the other goal early in the first period assisted by freshman Philomena Teggart. Madrigal made 23 saves in net to keep the game tied. The Lakers had the ability to win the game in overtime with the final 1:37 of overtime on the power play, but Plattsburgh State goaltender Brooke Wolejko remained strong.

Playoff History

As conference rivals in the ECAC West since 2006-2007, the Lakers and the Cardinals have seen each other four times in the playoffs since that same year. While the Cardinals have gone 4-0 in playoff games between the teams, the Lakers have kept a couple of the games decently close.

Plattsburgh State defeated Oswego State 6-1 in the ECAC West Quarterfinals during the 2008-2009 season. They also won in Rochester for the ECAC West Semifinals in the 2011-2012 season by a score of 1-0.

Eight of the players on the Lakers’ roster have seen Plattsburgh State in playoff mode, after losses in the playoffs in both 2015 and 2016. In 2015, after a 4-2 loss for the Lakers, Olivia Ellis had both goals for the Lakers. Kayla Meneghin of the Cardinals had a goal in the win. During the 2016 playoffs, the Cardinals shutout the Lakers 5-0 in the second round. Similar to this season, Oswego State defeated Buffalo State in the opening round 5-0 before traveling to Plattsburgh State.

Interesting Notes

Last season, the Lakers defeated the Cardinals 3-2 at the Ronald B. Stafford Ice Arena. The loss to the Lakers was the only time that Plattsburgh State was defeated during the entire season, as they won the national championship that same year. It is also the only time the Lakers have defeated the Cardinals in program history.

Two current Lakers, Olivia Ellis and Eryn Stewart, both scored for the Lakers in the win. Jacquelin White, twin sister of Julieann White, scored the remaining goal. Julieann and Andrea Noss both had assists. Mariah Madrigal stopped 48 of the 50 shots she faced in the victory.

For the Cardinals, Courtney Moriarty and Melissa Sheeran both scored. Camille Leonard stopped a mere 15 shots, but gave up the three goals.

This season, with the tie against the Lakers, the Cardinals’ attempt at a perfect conference record was ruined. After the regular season, they are 15-0-1, not including the playoff game against SUNY Potsdam.

By the Numbers

RECORD (conference) [vs. each other all-time / this season]

OSW: 12-12-2 (7-8-1) [1-28-1 / 0-3-1]

PLA: 22-2-2 (15-0-1) [28-1-1 / 3-0-1]

GOALS (per game) [against each other this season]

OSW: 62 (2.4) [4 / 1.0]

PLA: 111 (4.3) [16 / 4.0]

SHOTS (per game) [against each other this season]

OSW: 773 (29.7) [91 / 22.8]

PLA: 1,019 (39.2) [139 / 34.8]

POWER PLAY (percentage) [against each other this season]

OSW: 15-111 (13.5%) [1-19 / 5.3%]

PLA:  31-127 (24.4%) [6-24 / 25.0%]

Playoff Numbers (four games between PLA/OSW)

*denotes statistics do not include 2008-2009 playoffs

GOALS (per game)

OSW: 4 (1.0)

PLA: 16 (4.0)

SHOTS (per game)

OSW: 73 (18.3)

PLA: 172 (43.0)

POWER PLAY *

OSW: 0-7 (0.0%)

PLA: 0-6 (0.0%)

Player Spotlight

OSW: Jean-Marie Padden

Jean-Marie Padden had a two-goal game against Buffalo State to propel the Lakers to a 5-0 victory. Both of her goals, one of which was shorthanded, were unassisted. She opened up scoring at 5:28 after forcing a turnover and scored through the five-hole of goaltender Justine Silva. Her shorthanded goal came at 4:37 of the third period to close out scoring for the Lakers. Padden is fifth on the team in points (13) and second in goal (9). She also leads all freshmen in scoring, five points above classmate Emma Morisette. She is also riding a five-game point streak, dating back to Feb. 9 against SUNY Cortland.

PLA: Melissa Sheeran

Plattsburgh State’s Melissa Sheeran continued her dominant season with a four-point performance against SUNY Potsdam on Feb. 24. She had a goal and three assists, and now has 28 assists on the season which leads the team by more than 10. The senior has led the team in scoring for three years, and still had 35 points during her freshman campaign. Coming into the game against the Lakers, Sheeran has 183 career points and sits in second all-time for Plattsburgh State. She trails Elizabeth Gibson, who graduated in 2005 with 226 career points.

Prediction

The Lakers history both program-wise and playoff-wise against Plattsburgh State is not as strong as many people would like. However, between the past two season, Oswego State has proven that they can skate with the Cardinals after defeating them last season, and tying them this season. With a strong senior class and a strong freshmen class combined for the Lakers, this team has a chance to overtake the nationally ranked Plattsburgh State Cardinals.

On the other side of the spectrum, Plattsburgh State has a lot of depth with 11 players accumulating at least 10 points this season compared to Oswego State’s seven. Their goaltenders, who have both split the season, both have above a .950 save percentage, and allow less than one goal per game on average.

This will be a battle that Oswego State will have to climb uphill for. However, head coach Diane Dillon said in a mid-week interview that all of the pressure is on Plattsburgh State since they are both expected to win, and they know that Oswego State can win at the Ronald B. Stafford Ice Arena.

However, with the Cardinals’ always-dominant offense and goaltending, they will be able to pull away from this one. But, it will be closer than most would expect.

Cardinals win 5-3.