After a two week hiatus following their drubbings of St. John Fisher and Nazareth, the Oswego State Lakers started their regular season’s journey just as they had the year before: On the road against a ranked team from the Finger Lakes. This time it was a two hour trek through the Rochester area to the Ira S. Wilson Arena on the campus of SUNY Geneseo on Friday Nov. 7. The “Ice” nights as their hockey team is called were ranked fifth in the nation by the USCHO, and were undefeated in their games against Wilkes and Fredonia. Lakers head coach Ed Gosek made the daring decision to start Gavin McCarthy between the pipes, a man who had limited time on ice the previous year. This was the most crucial decision Gosek made that game.

The raucous arena was filled with rowdy Knights fans, making as much noise as they could throughout the game. Shirtless boys with painted chests, a pep band playing at every whistle, they put our Lakers student section to shame. Both teams started off with a charge. The Knights began pounding McCarthy with shots, 21 in just the first period. The Lakers gave what they could to Jacob Torgner on the other end, amounting only to eight in the first 20 minutes. Things began to slow midway through, as both teams knew it would be a war of attrition. With nine seconds to go in the first, Nico Paone was called for tripping. The Lakers started period two a man down.

Period two started with an excellent penalty kill for Oswego. Minutes later, the Lakers got a power play of their own, and Cam Symons put the first mark on the board on a neat rebound. Now the Knights knew it was serious. They stomped on the gas pedal, peppering McCarthy with even more shots. But McCarthy stood tall.

The final period was a period of “hang on tight” for the Lakers. Apart from a smattering of the Lakers offense around the five minute mark, the Geneseo Knights owned the third period, but they could not crack McCarthy. The closest they came was in the dying seconds of the game, as they scrambled around McCarthy and tried to shove him and the puck into the net. Punches were thrown, the whistle blew and after the dust settled, the puck remained out of the net. The battered and bruised McCarthy emerged victorious. The final buzzer sounded, and McCarthy left Geneseo with a 54 save shutout. Simply a masterclass in resilient goaltending.

The following evening, McCarthy got the night off and Michael Manzi was in the net to start his first ever collegiate hockey game. His goaltending was a whole other beast. Flashy and dramatic, he wowed the crowds at the Deborah F. Stanley Arena Saturday night in their contest versus the SUNY Brockport Golden Eagles. Five minutes into the start, Ryan Burke banked one off a defender from the hashmarks on the wall, and it found the top corner of Dax Easter’s net. It was an early lead that everyone thought was quickly going to be expanded upon. But it was not, as Brockport locked in for the rest of the period defensively.

The second period was a rough one. Brockport’s Joshua Przystal and the Lakers’ Sean Williams got into a wrestling match seven minutes in, and both were sent to the box for roughing. Late in the period, Connor Gatto got the Lakers some insurance off a wonderful bank pass from Travis Baker that he put through the sliding 5-hole of Easter.

The third period was marked by a major penalty for Sacha Trudel losing his cool in deep dealing with Lakers around Easter’s net. He had to leave the game for a head contact penalty, which was given as a five minute penalty for the rest of the game. The Lakers left the Deb with a 4-1 victory, giving Manzi his first win of his college career.

The next game is the Whiteout on Friday, Nov. 14 at the Deb, in which Plattsburgh State will come to exact their revenge on the Lakers after last year’s SUNYAC final.