Photo Credit: Alexis Fragapane

Oswego (7-6-0, 4-2-0) hit the road for a pair of games away from the Campus Center Arena last weekend. On Friday night Oswego fell to Mercyhurst University (5-9-0) at the 11th Annual Laker Showdown and on Saturday afternoon Oswego rebounded with a big win against first place Niagara University (11-2-0, 7-2-0).

Mercyhurst jumped out to a 2-0 lead early in Friday’s contest – scoring twice in the game’s opening 12 minutes. Although Oswego responded with a pair of goals from Jay Chapin and Trevor Jubran in the second period to cut Mercyhurst’s lead to 3-2 the Oswego comeback would fall just short. MU’s Paolo Sivilotti would score late in the game to cap off a 4-2 victory for Mercyhurst. With the win the Mercyhurst Lakers recapture the Ship Wheel Trophy – the rivalry symbol created 11 years ago for when these two teams, both nicknamed the Lakers, have their annual meeting.

On Saturday afternoon the Lakers made a pit stop on the way home in Niagara Falls, NY for a contest with Niagara University. The Purple Eagles came into Saturday on a 9 game winning streak that dated back to October 5th and a secure grasp on the top spot in the NECHL conference. Oswego fell victim to NU just 7 days prior at the Campus Center in a 3-1 loss.

However, in this game the Lakers would strike first in the second period when they were able to capitalize on a 2 on 1 chance fresh off killing a penalty. Braydon Deming slid the puck across the slot to Chase Nies who buried his team leading (tied with Luke Myers) 8th goal of the season. Oswego took the 1-0 lead into the second intermission before Trevor Jubran would sneak a breakaway goal past NU’s Bennett Oxborough halfway through the third period. Luke Myers would cap off the day with an empty net goal to secure the 3-0 win. Alex Gallose turned aside all 34 shots he faced including several timely point blank stops. The win improves Oswego’s record to 4 and 2 in conference play. They currently sit at 3rd place in the NECHL but do have 2 games in hand on the 2nd place RIT Tigers.

This weekend Oswego’s road swing continues as they travel to the University of Rhode Island for a 2 game set with the URI Rams. This season Rhode Island was ranked as high as 22nd in the nation (Men’s Division I Ranking #4 on October 23rd) but currently sit just outside the top 25. The Rams play in an ultra-competitive conference (ESCHL) alongside teams such as Liberty, Delaware, Syracuse, and Stony Brook. URI is led by forward Jake Salisbury who has 13 points (4-9-13) in 14 games. Having been around since 1951 Rhode Island has one of the more storied programs in the ACHA. In fact, their Head Coach, Joe Augustine, celebrated his 1,000th game with the Rams last season. The URI icon has more than 600 wins behind the Rams bench in over 3 decades with the organization. This will be the first time in Oswego’s history that they will play Rhode Island.

Friday’s game against URI will begin at 7PM and Saturday’s contest will get underway at 4PM. Between period updates for both games can be found on Oswego’s official Twitter page. The games will also be streamed through URI's broadcast on Live Barn. Live Barn does require a subscription fee in order to tune in.