On Nov. 12, the Oswego State men’s ice hockey team will hold their annual Teal Night to raise awareness of ovarian cancer.

This game in the Deborah F. Stanley Arena will feature two SUNYAC foes in a conference battle rivalry set since 1976, the first time these two clubs met on the ice. In 2021, this match-up means a little more for Oswego State as they now host their annual teal night for the first time since the 2019-20 season. 

Teal night is a special Oswego State Athletics event where both the women’s and men’s hockey teams host a game to raise awareness for ovarian cancer. The fundraiser was inspired by head coach Ed Gosek’s wife Mary, who passed away from the illness in 2017 after years of raising awareness and funds to fight the disease. They call it the silent killer and is now an annual tradition and honor and memory of Mary Gosek. In an event that donates 2,000 teal shirts and raises awareness for ovarian cancer, Gosek said he is thankful for the school’s contribution to the program and what it meant for his wife. 

“Her ambition is to try to educate women, girls on campus, teachers, mothers, grandparents, aunts and to understand the early signs of ovarian cancer because there’s no test for it was her fight,” Gosek said. “Her message is to raise awareness, raise funds, and develop research, that’s what the games are all about. I’m proud of the college and athletic department for the event. I’m grateful that people are talking about and reading of her legacy.”

Gosek also attributed her hard work for the cause to the betterment of the community and the impact she had on many Oswego State locker rooms through the years. 

“She was an important part of the college community,” Gosek said. “Working here for 34 years, she was well known. She was arguably our biggest fan, she was like the mom to every guy in the locker room for a lot of years we were together. You learn to appreciate having a wife that supported my career and the sacrifices she made.”

Fans and students around Oswego State’s campus will be with Gosek on Nov. 12 to hold “Mary’s Minute” a moment in the first minute of each period in which fans are encouraged to cheer for the hard work Mary Gosek instilled against ovarian cancer. 

For Gosek’s team, they will need the fans to be equally loud for the Laker’s 94th meeting versus SUNY Cortland in program history. A rivalry that has been heavily in favor of Oswego State with 80 of those games ending up in the win column. Heading into this collision of western New York foes, lies a history of Gosek’s old assistant of the 2007 national championship team, Joe Cardarelli. 

“Coach [Cardarelli], was my former assistant, he works hard, his teams are well prepared, they’ve had some good recruiting classes,” Gosek said. “We had a tight game with Potsdam and they breezed by them, so going into this one it will be a dog fight, we have to bring our A-Game, we’ll have to check our emotions at the door in a positive way, but with the point system now winning in regulation you can make up some ground or even pull ahead. This is an opportunity at home, one game weekend, for us to have our focus and do our best to get the job done on Friday.”

Keeping emotions in check will not only fall upon Gosek, but in captain Travis Broughman and Josh LeBlanc. These seniors are currently leading the team in points heading into this match-up and have been a large reason the Lakers were able to pull out a victory against SUNY Potsdam and gain a conference point in overtime against SUNY Plattsburgh. The two forwards have been scoring in breakaway opportunities and taking advantage of Oswego State’s speedy playstyle. As Gosek said, it is up to them to help instill Laker hockey into the 21 new players on this roster and get better each and every day.

“They’re senior for a reason,” Gosek said.  “You need guys to step up and gain other guys’ confidence. Some guys aren’t ready right now, some guys are showing they are. Some guys are growing and getting better every day. You need the upperclassmen to lead by example. It’s tough decisions come up line time. A lot of guys are turning heads, new guys are making it difficult. On any given day you got new guys that you weren’t sure if they were going to be in the lineup. It’s been a good thing, making it difficult for our staff to make lineups.”

Depth on this Oswego State roster is going to be paramount for success later on in the season if they hope to go on a run in the SUNYAC playoffs. The team currently stands 1-2-1 in this young part of the season. With the 2-1 Red Dragons coming into town, this will be a pivotal game considering point differential when determining seeding for the postseason. SUNY Cortland has just beat a Potsdam Bears team last weekend double the margin in score than the Lakers team did, so there is a likelihood that Teal Night will be a neck-and-neck affair. 

Regardless of the amount of competition this Laker team will face, Gosek said he is confident in the way he set this team up against teams like Hobart who are now nationally ranked in the NCAA polls.

“A lot of people thought I was crazy for scheduling Hobart and Elmira but it is a good test and it exposes your weaknesses,” Gosek said. “I think that helped us prepare for Potsdam and Plattsburgh who are two good teams, they are much improved since two years ago.”

This Friday’s game against the Red Dragons will be one for the books come “Mary’s Minute” at puck drop, Gosek said he is ready to see what this team can pan out to be after nearly two years of preparation with another home test.

“I think all of us right now are trying to find our identity,” Gosek said. “We have a vision of how we would like to play, we recruit to that, once the players get here it takes time, I like the guys that we have, we have good team speed but I think we can play a tough physical game when we need to.”

Kailee Montross | The Oswegonian