The Oswego State men’s ice hockey team had three overtime games last season, two of which the Lakers tied, including the Dec. 2 matchup against SUNY Geneseo and Jan. 20 game vs. Utica College. The third game came at the beginning of the season on Oct. 29, resulting in a 2-1 loss against then-No. 9/10 Hobart College.

The entire weekend, which also included a game on Oct. 28 against Elmira College, was emotional for both the team and head coach Ed Gosek. During the game against the Soaring Eagles, it was the Lakers’ annual TEAL game, which is the Ovarian Cancer Awareness game.

It was the first TEAL game that Gosek’s wife, Mary, did not attend. Mary died from a battle with ovarian cancer on June 3, 2017. Gosek said the game was emotional for him, and entire team with dozens, of questions being asked all week from different media outlets and the pressure of not to disappointing Gosek or the ceremony.

Gosek set up the game with Hobart College on that Sunday with the intention to get back into the season with a strong team and knew the game would be a good test for the young Lakers.

“There were a lot of emotions the night before from the players, the coaching staff and everyone involved. It’s not an excuse. It is what it is,” Gosek said. “But that was one of the harder turnarounds in my 29 years here.”

The game was close and hard fought against the Statesmen. With strong play from goaltender Cedric Hansen, and the amount of opportunities the Lakers had throughout the game, the game was sent to overtime after a Cameron Berry goal at 18:35 of the second period and no goals during the third period.

Jonas Toupal of Hobart College scored 52 seconds into the overtime period to seal the win for the Statesmen. It was the Lakers’ first loss of the season.

“Even though we weren’t happy with the overtime loss, we felt that we could’ve done better,” Berry said. “We were still pretty decently happy with it because we were still young.”

The unspoken rivalry between these two teams is not because of being in the same conference. Oswego State is a prominent team in the SUNYAC, while Hobart College is a key component in the Northeast Hockey Conference, even with other powerhouses like Norwich University. The rivalry comes from each game being hard fought, according to Gosek, along with the closeness of the two teams – only an hour apart.

Berry said the growing dominance of Hobart College into the national rankings has also been a strong reason for the heightened competitiveness between the Statesmen and Lakers.

“I don’t know if rivalry is the right word, but I think there’s a mutual respect,” Gosek said. “We know how they play and how the games go. Last year, we lost in overtime at their building. It was a good hockey game. I would expect the same this Saturday night.”

After the loss last season, it was up in the air if the two teams would play again this season, especially being in two different conferences. But, once some of the upperclassmen saw the Hobart College game scheduled for the coming season, it became an important game.

“It was one of those games where when we found out we were playing them this year, it was one that we had circled on the calendar,” Berry said.

Before the Lakers take on Hobart College, the team will have to go through SUNY Canton at the Canton Ice Arena. Gosek said that SUNY Canton will be his first focus. The game is the team’s first road game and first time the team will have back-to-back games.

“If you’re focused on Saturday, you’re probably shooting yourself in the foot for Friday,” Gosek said. “They’re going to expose some weaknesses for us, which will hopefully make us a better team for Saturday night.”

Despite the quick turnaround after a two-hour bus ride back to Oswego State on Friday night, everything will remain the same for Saturday before the game, Gosek said. The team will have its pre-game skate at 11 a.m., a video session and then the pregame meal, along with arriving to the rink at the same time.

The coaching staff will use the bus ride home to breakdown video and start to determine the lineup for the Hobart College game.

“I’m not into this, ‘We’re going to give you a chance to see what the heck you can do,’” Gosek said. “Right now, there’s no preconceived notions about what we think we’re going to do for Saturday until we get through Friday and see how guys play and how we perform.”

Oswego State is ranked No. 6/7 for NCAA Div. III, while Hobart College is ranked No. 5/11. Gosek said the rankings are nice, but this early in the season, with not a lot of games played, he considered it a compliment.

The game, Berry said, will set the tone for the rest of season heading into the bulk of the conference games after the Hobart College game.

“We’ve taken all the steps we can to be prepared for them. It’s going to be very physical just because of their style,” Berry said. “It’s going to be a lot of fun, so we’ll hopefully be able to come out on top for it.”

Photo by Maria Pericozzi | The Oswegonian