Photo Credit: Robert J. Clark Photography

Oswego (11-8-1, 6-3-1) is set for 2 more big NECHL conference road matchups this upcoming weekend. The Lakers will head to Ithaca, NY to take on Cornell University (8-12-2, 3-5-1) on Saturday evening and then pay a visit to Cortland State (1-13-0, 0-9-0) the following day for a noon game with the Red Dragons.

Cornell and Oswego met earlier this season back in October at the Campus Center. The Lakers edged the Big Red 9-5 with help from Braydon Deming and Guillaume Hebert’s multiple goal performances. Cornell has not played since before the holiday break – a 9-2 loss against Canisius College back in early December. However, Cornell will take on the University at Buffalo tonight (Friday night) on the road before hosting the Lakers on Saturday. Regardless, Oswego can expect a Cornell team hungry for 3 points. For the first time this season Cornell finds themselves outside of the NECHL playoff picture. The Big Red are chasing UB and Rutgers University for the final NECHL playoff spot.

Cornell University has the 2 leading point getters in the NECHL. Christopher Williams (21-21-42) and Dongyoon Shin (19-22-41) sit 1 and 2 in the NECHL in points with 42 and 41 points respectively in just 19 games played. Niagara’s David Christopher trails Williams and Shin in third with 39 points but he has competed in 6 more games than both the Cornell forwards.

Saturday’s game against Cornell is set for 4:45pm.

Sunday’s game between Oswego and Cortland will be the third meeting between the 2 teams this season. In October, Oswego defeated the Red Dragons 9-1 in conference play and then 10-1 just one week later in a non-conference matchup. Both games were played in Oswego at the Campus Center. Cortland is still looking for their first NECHL conference win of the season. The Red Dragons were swept by Rutgers University last weekend at home.

Head Coach Chris Timmons shared his mindset on the upcoming weekend.

“The goal for us is to play a full 60 minutes in both these games and continue to work on our consistency. The scores from earlier this season aren’t going to help us this weekend so we need to focus on these 2 games – 1 game at a time.”

Oswego is coming off a hard fought weekend in Buffalo where they earned 2 of the possible 6 points up for grabs against Canisius and the University at Buffalo. Last Friday against Canisius the Lakers held a 1-0 lead after 2 periods courtesy of Shawn O’Neill’s 3rd goal of the season with 6 seconds left in the middle frame. However, the Lakers couldn’t make the lead stick in the third period. The Griffs would strike for 3 quick goals in the span of just over 5 minutes to jump ahead to a 3-1 lead. Canisius added an empty netter with under a minute to play to secure a 4-1 win.

On Saturday afternoon the Lakers bounced back with an overtime win against Buffalo. Colby Skrupa, CJ Walsh, and Andrew Corning all potted goals for the Lakers in the first 25 minutes of the game. However, the Bulls would climb back in the game scoring twice in the final 13 minutes of the second period and again a minute and half into the third. This set the stage for the 2nd overtime meeting between these 2 teams this season. Colby Skrupa gave Oswego the win as he riffled home his 2nd of the game and 3rd of the season halfway through the overtime period. This was the first time in more than 10 seasons that the Lakers defeated UB.

Alex Gallose, who played both contests in Buffalo last weekend, earned the win on Saturday stopping 29 of the 32 shots he faced.

Head Coach Chris Timmons again talks about the need for consistency in Oswego’s game.

“It felt like we had control for the most part in both games but got complacent with a lead. Luckily we were able to hold off Buffalo and take the game in OT but Canisius took advantage of the 5 minutes where we took our foot off the gas as a group in the third period.”

Oswego will look to find that consistency this weekend with 6 points on the line.

Both games this upcoming weekend will be broadcasted on the team’s YouTube channel. Oswego's own Ben Grieco will have the call. As always, you can also follow along with updates throughout the weekend on the team’s official Twitter feed.

Current NECHL Standings