Beating a SUNYAC rival twice in one season? It has been done before for the Oswego State men’s hockey team.

The Lakers disposed of Morrisville State, SUNY Potsdam and SUNY Fredonia this season, sweeping the regular-season series.

But for the first time since the 2010-2011 season, the Lakers won both of the regular-season matchups against arch-rival Plattsburgh State. Oswego State won on Nov. 8 at home with a 3-0 shutout, and then at the Ronald B. Stafford Ice Arena on Jan. 31 with a 4-2 victory.

After defeating Plattsburgh State 4-1 on Tuesday night in the SUNYAC Semifinals to advance to the SUNYAC Championships, Oswego State swept a three-game season series against the Cardinals for the first time since the 2009-2010 season.

“You always hear that it’s hard to beat a team three times. Well, it’s true,” Oswego State head coach Ed Gosek said. “When you do it long enough, you learn to appreciate getting the win this time of year no matter how you do it.”

This game was just another piece in the puzzle for Oswego State, battling numerous moments of adversity throughout the season, both on and off the ice. The rink’s compressor, keeping the ice cool and frozen, broke during the week, forcing the Oswego State rink staff to melt the ice.

Concerns started to arise when the rink was still cement on Friday, but the SUNYAC gave an extension to the semifinal matchup and gave staff time to bring in an emergency compressor to essentially rebuild the rink, with new paint and all.

Gosek gave compliments to the school’s administration and custodial staff for working around the clock, getting the ice ready for Tuesday night’s matchup.

“When you have the support of your administration for our student body and our playoffs, it means a lot,” Gosek said. “I said to the players, ‘The college held up their end of the deal and sacrificed to make this happen. It’s our turn to sacrifice and get the win.”

For players and fans alike, there was nothing like breaking in the new ice with not only a playoff win, but getting that playoff win over their SUNYAC rival in the 131st meeting of the two teams.

Travis Broughman scored the first goal of the game only 1:33 into the first period, followed by another at 5:17 of the second period. Both were at the bottom of the faceoff circles. The first was a rebound into an empty net, and then the second was a wrist shot that found its way over goaltender Jimmy Poreda’s shoulder.

Joey Scorpio and Josh Zizek also scored for the Lakers. Zizek added two assists, while Michael Gillespie had a three-assist night for Oswego State.

“For both of them, they played 200 feet,” Gosek said. “This time of year you’ve got to have every guy not just thinking offense, but willing to be committed to the defensive zone. Those two led by example and the other guys followed suit.”

Steven Kozikoski made 21 saves in net on 22 shots. Andrew Pizzo scored the only Cardinal goal with a shot from the blue line in the third period on the power play. The puck got through traffic and eventually snuck by Kozikoski’s pad at 8:22 of the third period.

Gosek said he played well throughout the game, and was a “big momentum changer” for the Lakers.

But now all eyes turn to the SUNYAC Championship game on Saturday with a 7 p.m. puck drop at the Ira S. Wilson Ice Arena against SUNY Geneseo. It is a repeat of last year’s championship game where the Knights won 4-3 to get the automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament.

Adding SUNY Geneseo to the mix for Oswego State is just one more piece of adversity for the Lakers’ season, according to Gosek, who said “there’s no easy way through any of this.”

“Everybody says, ‘Do you wish you had a certain opponent?’ You get what you deserve in this world. Life’s not always fair. … It’s going to take our best effort. It’s why you play the game,” Gosek said. “On paper, we shouldn’t win. In the hearts of our players, we’ll see what we bring.”

Photo by Nicole Hube | The Oswegonian