Photo Credit: Jackson DeClerck

Oswego (6-5-0, 3-2-0) is gearing up for a pair of road games this upcoming weekend. On Friday evening Oswego heads to Pennsylvania for the 11th annual Laker Showdown with the Mercyhurst University Lakers (4-9-0) and on Saturday afternoon Oswego looks for redemption against the first place Niagara University Purple Eagles (11-1-0, 7-1-0).

Mercyhurst and Oswego meet once each season for bragging rights over which team nicknamed “Lakers” gets to hoist the Ship Wheel Rivalry Trophy.  This season Mercyhurst will host the game in Erie, Pennsylvania. Although the Oswego Lakers have only won the wheel trophy twice (2013-14 & 2018-19) in the rivalry’s history they are the defending the Laker Showdown title this year. Last season Oswego beat Mercyhurst 1-0 at the Campus Center Arena on the opening weekend of the 2018-19 season. Dan Perepezko recorded a 24 save shutout in net while CJ Walsh scored the lone goal in the game. Walsh, now a junior for Oswego, is excited to play in his 3rd Laker Showdown and help defend the Ship Wheel.

“Since freshman year, when I was first introduced to the battle of the Ship Wheel, it’s been a very exciting challenge to compete for every season. To finally get to win it at home last year and to score the only goal of the game was an unforgettable experience. Coming into this season’s game, I look forward to keeping ahold of the Wheel and helping the team compete for 60 minutes.”

Following Friday evening’s game Oswego will travel to Buffalo, NY to take on Niagara University on Saturday afternoon. The Lakers fell to the Purple Eagles this past weekend at the Campus Center by a score of 3-1.

NU’s Carson Andreoli opened the scoring with a powerplay goal 14 minutes into Saturday’s game with Oswego’s Joe Marszalek off for interference. However, Marszalek would be the man to answer the NU goal just over 2 minutes later when he slid a shot five hole past Niagara’s Bennett Oxborough to tie the game at 1. NU would regain their lead with another powerplay goal coming toward the end of the 2nd period to go ahead 2-1. The Purple Eagles were able to add an insurance tally 4 minutes into the third period. Although the third NU goal was at even strength it came just as CJ Walsh’s holding penalty had expired.

Special teams was a clear difference in this game as Niagara was given 7 powerplay opportunities – 2 of them which resulted in powerplay goals and another which ultimately generated the third Niagara goal. On the other side Oswego was unable to capitalize on any of their 6 powerplays including (2) 5 on 3 opportunities.

NU’s Bennett Oxborough, who has carried much of NU’s workload up until this point, stood tall in net stopping 38 of 39 Oswego shots. The Lakers will likely see Oxborough back in the net this Saturday afternoon. In the other crease, Oswego’s Alex Gallose made 41 stops of his own.

On Sunday afternoon Oswego rebounded with a 5-1 victory over Erie Community College (1-2-0). Chase Nies led the way offensively with 2 goals and an assist while Ryan Schirano stopped 34 shots in net. Head Coach Chris Timmons coached in his 100th career ACHA game behind the bench.

Friday’s Laker Showdown begins at 6:00 PM at the Mercyhurst Ice Center. Saturday afternoon’s conference meeting against NU begins at 2:30 PM at the Dwyer Arena. Between period updates for both games can be found on Oswego’s official Twitter page.