Photo Credit: Alexis Fragapane

The 2019-2020 regular season came to an end for Oswego State (16-10-1, 9-4-1) this past weekend. On Friday evening the Lakers fell to the RIT Tigers (16-8-3, 8-4-2) on the road and then on Sunday Oswego bounced back with a win against Canisius College (17-10-3, 8-5-1) on Senior Day to conclude their regular season campaign.

Friday night the Lakers kicked off the weekend with a trip to the Rochester Institute of Technology. The Tigers scored the lone goal of the game when Nicholas Washco buried a rebound in front off the pad of Alex Gallose with 4:48 left in the first period. The powerplay tally proved to be the difference maker in the contest. Oswego would go on to accumulate 47 shots on goal but RIT’s Gavin Lewis would keep the door shut and record the 1-0 shutout win for the Tigers.

After the day off on Saturday, the Lakers returned home on Sunday for the first time since November 23rd, 2019 to face off against the Canisius Golden Griffins in the regular season finale. Oswego needed a win to remain the #3 seed in the NECHL conference playoffs while Cansisius was fighting for the #2 spot. The Lakers got on the board first late in the opening period when Mike Lemieux stuffed home a rebound past Canisius goaltender Dominick Tallarico. Braydon Deming and Luke Myers would get the assists. Canisius tied the game at the halfway point of the second period when Gus Aldridge shot home a puck into a practically vacated Laker net. Oswego goaltender, Dan Perepezko, was knocked out of position after colliding with CJ Walsh who was tied up with his man in front. Although controversial, the goal would stand and the Griffs were on the board.

Trevor Jubran got the lead back for the Lakers after firing a beautiful shot past Tallerico off the rush for his 13th goal of the season. Jay Chapin and Chase Nies recorded the helpers. The Lakers would carry the 2-1 lead into the 2nd intermission.

Canisius would again tie the game 3 minutes into the third period on a goal from Robbie Cicciari. Just 6 minutes later Andrew Corning would pot the eventual game winner after Canisius goaltender, Dominick Tallarico, misplayed the puck out front. The freshman from Syracuse, NY made no mistake when he buried the loose puck for his 3rd tally of the season. Senior goaltender, Dan Perepezko, made 22 saves in the 3-2 Laker win.

Prior to Sunday’s game Oswego had not beaten Canisius College since February 5th, 2016 – more than 4 full seasons ago. Oswego had been 0-6-2 against the Golden Griffins in that stretch including an OT loss in the 2017 conference playoffs.

Following Sunday’s game Oswego honored their 4 seniors. Ryan Schirano (Goaltender), Shawn O'Neill (Forward/Defense), Luke Myers (Forward), and Daniel Perepezko (Goaltender) all skated in their final ACHA game at the Campus Center. The senior class combined to play in 10 seasons for the Lakers and 185 regular season games collectively. Luke Myers, who led Oswego in scoring this season, finished up his career with 85 points (27-58-85) – good enough for 6th all-time in the program’s history. The forward from New City, NY is also 4th all-time in career assists.  

With the regular season wrapped up, the Lakers finished with a 16-10-1 record – their highest win total since the 2013-14 season. The Lakers finished tied for second in the NECHL conference but will be the number 3 seed (RIT holds tie-breaker of head-to-head record) at the 2020 NECHL playoffs held at the end of the month in Buffalo, NY. Oswego’s 9-4-1 conference record also holds the best winning percentage (.643) in program history.

The Lakers will gear up to take on #6 Cornell University in Buffalo, NY Friday, February 28th at 6:00 PM in round 1 of the conference playoffs.

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