By BEN GRIECO

OSWEGO — The Oswego State ACHA Division I men’s hockey team swept Kent State Oct. 8-9 on the road, gaining some momentum heading back into conference play.

With the weekend sweep, the Lakers improve to 3-0-2-1 on the season.

“Momentum in hockey is huge,” head coach Travis Hyde said. “The sweep gave the team a needed boost in moral which should make for a great week of practice leading into a big conference weekend against Canisius.”

The Lakers found the back of the net three times in their 3-1 win on Friday. Ryan Durand scored his third goal of the season, with assists from Carter McWilliams and Martin Simanek at 14:32 of the first period.

Trevor Jubran quickly added a goal at 16:09, with assists to Chase Nies and Andrew Cardi, putting Oswego State up 2-0 heading into the second frame.

Cardi scored a goal of his own on the power play at 12:57 of the second period when Kent’s Jake Friedman was sent off for two minutes for tripping. Jubran and Jay Chapin recorded the assists.

Kent got one goal back at 17:56 off the stick of Tommy Kilway.

Goaltender Alex Gallose made 30 saves en route to victory.

Even though the team’s second line of Durand, McWilliams and Thomas Sansone only accounted for one goal, Hyde said, “That line was buzzing” during the game.

During the second game of the series, that line quickly got to work again, with Durand opening the scoring at 11:00 of the first period. Matthew Cardi recorded the assist on the goal.

Oswego State put the game far out of reach during the second period, scoring five goals in the period alone. Jubran got things started just a few minutes in (Nicholas Keyes assist), followed by Stephen Matro’s unassisted goal at 8:12.

Nies scored his first goal of the game shorthanded, assisted by Joe Marszalek. While Kent State got one back just 18 seconds later, Nies scored again, this time on the power play. Nick Cira scored his first career ACHA goal with assists to Jubran and Marszalek.

Ryan Saelens scored two more goals in the third period to seal the game 8-2, with the Golden Flashes adding one more goal in the middle of the third. Gallose made 35 saves on 37 shots.

“It was great to see some guys gel well with other guys and start to build a healthy, successful lineup through the entire game,” Hyde said. “We preach being a team with a lot of depth. We saw that come through this (past) weekend.”

With a couple players still out due to injury, Hyde said he saw continued improvement throughout the weekend. He highlighted the team’s neutral zone structure, limiting opposing teams’ transition to offense. Off the ice, Hyde said he also enjoyed the energy and positivity on the bench and in the locker room.

“I thought our defensive core stepped up this past weekend and started to limit some opportunities that we saw against us the first two weekends,” Hyde said. “Of course, there is still room for improvement so we are looking for them to continue to make strides forward.”

After overcoming some adversity two times this past weekend, according to Hyde, the Lakers are looking to carry some momentum into Friday’s and Saturday’s contests against Canisius College, a NECHL opponent.

The Golden Griffins are coming off a Friday loss to NECHL opponent University at Buffalo (7-3), before bouncing back to top Mercyhurst, 8-5, Saturday.

Despite Canisius having the opportunity to play during the 2020-21 season — and eventually attending the ACHA National Tournament — Hyde said it doesn’t really give the Golden Griffins an advantage.

“In conference games that typically have higher levels of emotion and anxiety, being able to stay in control is a daunting task. I am intrigued to see how we handle that this weekend,” Hyde said. “They may have an upper-hand relative to how conditioned they are, but we have six games under our belt and guys are getting back to being in ‘game shape.’ So I don't see it having a huge impact on any sort of strategy.”

The puck drops on Friday at 8 p.m. at the newly-named Deborah F. Stanley Ice Arena and Convocation Hall for the first game of the weekend. The Saturday contest is at the Crisafulli Ice Rink, with the game slated to start at 4 p.m.

Both games will be streamed on the Oswego State ACHA hockey team’s YouTube page. Updates will be on the team’s Twitter (@OswegoACHA) and Instagram (@oswego_acha) throughout the weekend.

COVER PHOTO BY ROBERT J. CLARK