By Alexander Abramovich

After an above-par season, the Oswego State women’s hockey team lost a hard-fought 1-0 game in the NEWHL semifinal to SUNY Cortland. The Lakers played tough the whole game, both teams were held scoreless throughout the first 60 minutes. An overtime goal from SUNY Cortlands Dany Donegan at the 10:56 mark was the end of a great season put together by this Lakers team.

The Lakers have nothing to hang their heads over, they had an amazing year despite not being able to play for almost two years. Not only did they come one goal away from reaching the NEWHL final, but they also lost arguably their best player in Megan Teachout earlier in the season after she transferred. SUNY Cortland now moves on to face off against Plattsburgh State in the NEWHL final on March 5, at 3 p.m.

Sitting with an 8-8-1 record on Jan. 14, the Lakers needed to figure something out if they were going to be a competitor for the NEWHL title, and they did just that. After that 2-1 loss at home against William Smith College, the Lakers proceeded to rip off eight wins in a row and shot right back up to being one of the best teams in the conference. Despite the loss, the Lakers proved that they were a force to be reckoned with in the second half of the season, and should be locked and loaded for next year.

The game was an absolute nail-biter, it is not very often when you see a game head to overtime without any goals scored. Head coach Rick Filighera had some high praise for his team after their big win on March 1. 

“Loved my team today, I didn’t have to say much for most of the game,” Filighera said. “We made a couple of adjustments, I went into the third period saying don’t change a thing, I liked where we were at, I liked our bench. The biggest thing in those games is I can’t get out of control, so we were actually laughing and just trying to play our game.” 

Playing in close games like this one can be quite nerve-racking for a player, especially on the road, and in a playoff game. Molly Goergen gave her input when asked about keeping her cool in such a hostile environment. 

“I just tell myself that it’s another period, forget the fact that it’s sudden death because then that will make me stressed,” Goergen said. “I just take one shot at a time, and I try and talk to my teammates, and I try to keep it happy on ice. I smile at everyone, look around just so people forget that we need to score because I feel like if I seem worried, then my team will too.” 

Overtime hockey is fun and stressful to watch, but being a player out on the ice is a whole different story. After scoring the game-winning goal, Donegan was happy to be able to compete in this kind of environment. 

“It’s very exciting for us, we were really pumped up in the locker room after but even before the game I think everyone was ready to play,” Donegan said. “We’ve been preparing to play for this, playoff hockey, Oswego is a phenomenal team to play, really, it was a good experience.” 

Losing in a playoff game can be one of the most brutal feelings, knowing that it is the last time that you will be playing with your teammates, and what could be the last game of your career for the seniors. When asked about the emotions going around the locker room after the defeat, captain Philomena Teggart who has been in this position before believes her team did everything that they could to win the game. 

“We know what it takes to win a playoff game, especially against a team that’s very similar to us,” Teggart said. “You know what, it was a tough bounce but I think we played really well and we played our game to the best we could.” 

Teggart had a phenomenal career for the Lakers and her legacy will be remembered by her returning teammates for the rest of their careers.

The other captain for the Lakers this season was forward Aislinn McAleer, who also played her last game for Oswego State, talked about how the game plan was to stay positive heading into overtime. 

“I think we just tried to keep our same energy going at the start of overtime,” McAleer said. “It’s really nothing you can do when things just happen to not go your way, but we just tried our best to stay positive.” 

McAleer had a long career at Oswego State as well, the captain will certainly be missed on and off the ice.

The COVID-19 pandemic put a toll on everyone but having to build relationships with teammates while going through that can be difficult. Head Coach Mark Digby praised his players on how they found a way to make this season successful. 

“I walked into having these two here [Teggart and McAleer,] you can’t ask for more than that,” said Digby. “Our freshman class that year, with Shines, Grugin and Mia [Conboy,] I think they’ve all come a long way and it’s been nice over the course of this year, all of them didn’t focus one bit on themselves. They didn’t focus on points, playing time, they tried to make the team better every day.” 

An above average season for this Oswego State team, not the ending they wanted, but they should be proud of what they overcame to put themselves in the position they were in.

William Rogers | The Oswegonian