Photo Credit: Todd Gallose | gallosephotos.com

Every February, Oswego dedicates their final home game of the season to their senior class. This gives families, fans, and coaches the opportunity to recognize the seniors – thank them for their hard work and dedication to the program and acknowledge their accomplishments in their time with the team. This season’s Senior Day was scheduled for this upcoming Saturday, February 20th against RIT. Unfortunately, Saturday’s game, along with the entirety of the 2020-21 season, has been cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, this does not mean that the Oswego ACHA program cannot still honor the six student athletes that are set to graduate in May of 2021.

 The graduating class includes Theo Cup (Defenseman | Rochester, NY), Alex Gallose (Goaltender | Ronkonkoma, NY), Mike Lemieux (Forward | Delmar, NY), Colby Skrupa (Forward | Syracuse, NY), CJ Walsh (Defenseman | Syracuse, NY), and Chris Wands (Defenseman | Ringwood, NJ). Head Coach Chris Timmons weighed on his seniors and the situation with the cancellation of the 2020-21 season.

“It was a real disappointment to have to inform our team, especially our seniors, that we were not going to be able to have a season this year given the circumstances. For such a great group of guys who played tremendously last year and helped lead our team to one of the most successful seasons in our program’s history who were looking to come back to improve and make another run at it, only to be shut down by something out of our control was devastating.” Coach Timmons continued, “This group was full of leadership and guys that were willing to do whatever was asked of them – and guys that were a pleasure to be around both on and off the ice. It’s definitely a shame, but I wish the senior class the best of luck in the future and hope to see them at our alumni functions very soon.

Each of the six seniors skated in their final game on March 1st, 2020 – a 4-3 loss to Niagara University in the NECHL Conference Championship. The group skated in 412 combined games for the Lakers and were an essential part of the 2020 NECHL Conference Playoff run. The Lakers will also graduate senior broadcaster, Ben Grieco. Ben called Laker games for two seasons from 2018-2020.

Click here for a deep dive into Oswego ACHA Hockey’s Class of 2021.