Photo Credit: Alexis Fragapane

OSWEGO, NY - Oswego State (16-10-1, 9-4-1) is set to take on Rutgers University (8-15-2, 5-9-0) this Friday night in round one of the NECHL Conference Playoffs in Buffalo, NY. The Lakers finished up their conference schedule with a win over Canisius College back on Sunday, February 16th to secure the #3 seed in the NECHL Playoff for the second consecutive season. Rutgers University completed their conference play this season with 5 wins – good enough to finish in 7th place in the conference just 1 point behind Cornell University for sixth. However, after Cornell was forced to forfeit a pair of games in Pennsylvania in late October they became ineligible for the ACHA National Tournament. This, in turn, made them ineligible for conference playoffs as well as the conference champion receives an auto-bid to the national tournament. Consequently, Rutgers took over the #6 seed.

THIS SEASON - These 2 teams met for a weekend series back on October 4th & 5th in just the second weekend of the regular season. The Lakers and Scarlet Knights split the 2 games at the Campus Center. Rutgers took game 1 by a score of 3-1 despite being outshot 48-24. The following day Oswego answered with an 8-2 win on “Pink the Rink” day. Chase Nies led the way offensively for Oswego in the lopsided win with a goal and 4 assists. Both Trevor Jubran & Braydon Deming also scored their first career collegiate goals in the contest. Rutgers goaltender, Jake Lakatos, started both games for the Scarlett Knights that weekend. After his brilliant performance in game 1 he was pulled after just 20 minutes the following day in favor of Chris Fiorillo.

SCOUTING RUTGERS – Rutgers is led up front by #63 Sean Lippincott (13-20-33) and #28 Josh Kim (9-20-29). Kim (Leonia, NJ) earned NECHL Rookie of the Year honors last year when he led his team in points during his freshman year campaign. Rutgers last time out they were defeated 6-5 and 6-3 in a 2 game set with William Patterson University at home last weekend, February 21st and 22nd.

WHAT’S NEXT – If Oswego were to win Friday night the Lakers would take on #2 R.I.T. on Saturday afternoon at 3:00pm in the NECHL Semi-Finals. The NECHL Memorial Cup Championship game will be held Sunday, March 1st at 1:30 PM. All games will be played at the North Buffalo Rink. The winner of the NECHL Conference Tournament receives an auto-bid to the ACHA National Tournament held this year at the end of March in Frisco, TX.

Oswego is looking for their first conference playoff win since February 22nd, 2013 – a 7-6 win over Ithaca College at the Northtown Center in Buffalo, NY. Chris Timmons (now Head Coach) and Jordan Alhart (now Assistant Coach) both recorded goals in the high scoring affair that evening. Last season Oswego was upset 8-2 in the first round by the sixth seeded Niagara University Purple Eagles.

Friday’s game will be broadcasted on the team’s Youtube Channel. Oswego’s own Ben Grieco (@BenGriecoSports) will have the call. For updates throughout the weekend be sure to follow both the Oswego State ACHA and the NECHL Twitter accounts.

NECHL Playoff Bracket

Final NECHL Standings