Photo Credit: Robert J Clark Photography

Oswego (7-8-0, 4-2-0) suffered 2 hard fought losses on the road this past weekend against the University of Rhode Island. On Friday night the Lakers managed to get on the board first when Mike Lemieux notched his 5th of the season with 6 minutes left in the first period. However, URI would answer 5 minutes into the 2nd period and take the lead with 15 minutes to play in the game. The Rams would hold on to win 2-1 despite several late opportunities to tie the game. The Lakers were also given 7 powerplays in the game but failed to convert on each opportunity. Oswego’s Alex Gallose, who made his second consecutive start in net, stopped 33 of the 35 shots he faced.

On Saturday evening, URI blanked Oswego 2-0 in game 2 of the weekend. The Rams scored in each of the first 2 periods of the game and were backed by some stellar goaltending. URI’s John Ketzenberger put up a 27 save shutout which included turning aside all 18 Oswego shots put on net in the third period.

The Lakers will look to rebound against the Rochester Institute of Technology (9-5-0, 5-3-0) on Friday night. Last season Oswego split their 2 conference meetings with the Tigers – a 3-2 loss on home ice and a 4-3 win in Rochester. The Tigers are led offensively by Nicholas Washco (#28), who has 19 points (11-8-19) in 16 games and team captain and last year’s NECHL Player of the Year, Sean Bellefeuille (#2), on the blue line. The Tigers are coming off a weekend sweep back on November 8th & 9th. RIT earned 2 big conference wins against Cornell (6-3 on the road) and UB (6-2 at home) to propel them into 2nd place in the NECHL standings. Friday’s game against RIT will be played at the Anthony J Crisafulli Rink in the town of Oswego, NY.

The Lakers will wrap up the first semester on Saturday afternoon with another conference matchup against the University at Buffalo (6-10-0, 3-3-0). Although, the Bulls currently sit in 6th place in the NECHL they are the 2-time defending NECHL regular season and playoff champions. In that span the Bulls had just 1 regulation loss in conference play in those 2 seasons combined (23-1-4). Last season the Bulls edged Oswego 8-1 at the Campus Center and 4-3 in Buffalo. UB is coming off of a weekend series with Rutgers where they split their 2 game set – a 4-2 win last Friday and a 3-2 loss the next day. Following Saturday’s game Oswego is off for the holidays until January 17th when they travel to Robert Morris University (PA).

Saturday afternoon’s game marks the 4th annual Military Appreciation Day put on by Oswego State. The Lakers will wear custom military themed jerseys in support of November’s Military Appreciation Month.

Both home games this weekend are open and free to the public. The doors at the Campus Center for Saturday’s Military Appreciation game will open at 1:15pm. In addition, both games can be streamed for free live on the team’s Youtube channel.