After two power-play goals and an assist from sophomore defenseman Max Novick, the No. 3/3 Oswego State men’s hockey team defeated SUNY Fredonia 4-1 at the Marano Campus Center Ice Arena Friday night.

Josh Nenadal scored two goals as well. Mitch Emerson and Michael Gillespie, who now has a team-leading 22 points, both registered multi-point nights, also, after tallying two assists. Both of their assists came on both Novick goals. David Richer made 16 saves on 17 shots for his tenth win of the season.

With Novick’s two goals, the power-play went 2-7 for the Lakers, and now sit at 26.5 percent for the season. Head coach Ed Gosek said his team was able to create a screen in front of SUNY Fredonia’s tall goaltender, Eric Bogart, who stands at six-feet six-inches.

“We talk about creating screens, second chance opportunities. Off of those two shots, obviously we didn’t need it,” Gosek said. “I thought the power play unit, both power play units in general, moved the puck effectively, efficiently, and didn’t overcomplicate things.”

Oswego State killed off all five penalties it faced, including a long five-on-three penalty kill in the opening minutes of the first period. The Lakers allowed only four power-play shots, either blocking a majority of the shots or making the Blue Devils send their shots wide.

Novick leads the defense on Oswego State with six goals. He has 16 points on the season and is tied for fourth on the team in points with freshman Travis Broughman. Both of Novick’s goals came from the top of the point at the blue line on wrist shots. One went over the shoulder of Bogart, and one slid down low.

“It doesn’t have to be the big one-timer,” Gosek said. “It’s just a quicker release and accurate and on net.”

Nenadal’s second goal — which was the fourth and final goal for the Lakers against the Blue Devils — was a short-handed and empty-net goal that sailed from the end of Oswego State’s defensive zone to the empty net at the end of SUNY Fredonia’s. Nenadal, a senior transfer from Lake Superior State University, leads the team with three short-handed goals. He had a similar goal in the 4-0 win against Plattsburgh State on Dec. 8 to seal the game.

“He’ll tell you it was a secret play or something for sure,” Gosek said. “He’s full of energy and full of foolish comments, but they’re at the appropriate time and the guys love it. It gets them going.”

With the win, the Lakers now improve to 16-3-1 overall with a 9-2-0 SUNYAC record. The Blue Devils fall to 11-5-4 overall and 5-4-2 in the conference. Oswego State’s conference weekend is not done yet, however, with a game against Buffalo State on Saturday night.

The game against the Bengals is also the Lakers’ annual TEAL game, which supports awareness for ovarian cancer, which Gosek’s wife, Mary, passed away from last year. The game raises money toward research. Gosek said he hopes the team can bring the same intensity to the game on Saturday for the team members that knew Mary. The junior and senior classes that started with Oswego State their freshman years are the final two classes that met Mary before she passed away.

Gosek said she played the role of “team mom” for a lot of the team members and that there has been a lot of support from the school every year for the TEAL game.

“She was a big part of the program, the way that she treated them. I’m hard on the guys, and in her eyes, the guys could never do anything wrong,” Gosek said. “It’s a special game. We need to get our focus and come back and play with the same intensity we did tonight.”