By BEN GRIECO

The Oswego State ACHA Division I men's hockey team earned some crucial league points this past weekend against Canisius College, losing the Friday contest in overtime but dominating the second game Saturday.

With the split weekend, the Lakers took home four points into a non-league weekend against Lehigh University this coming Saturday and Sunday. The Mountain Hawks travel to Lake Ontario with a 4-4 record after topping Temple University Friday, before falling to Towson University Saturday.

After watching his team put up 14 goals in the two games against Canisius, Oswego State head coach Travis Hyde wants his offense to take advantage of Lehigh's defensive zone.

"Lehigh will be looking to steal a couple games on the road. They will have some size and skill up front, but may lack a bit of discipline and structure in their defensive zone we want to take advantage of," Hyde said. "With how our offensive zone has been, I expect to have some segments of 20-30 seconds where we hem Lehigh in their zone and get some quality chances. Our biggest factor in our success this weekend will be our ability to stay consistent the whole weekend and stay disciplined in our work ethic."

Oswego State fell in overtime against the Golden Griffins in the first contest of the weekend Friday. Chase Nies opened the scoring with 9:31 left in the first period (assisted by Andrew Cardi and Ryan Saelens) before Steven Matro added another goal to close out the period (assisted by Josh Matyasik). Andrew Corning gave the Lakers a 3-0 lead with 9:56 left in the second period (assisted by Saelens and Nicholas Keyes), before Canisius got one goal back with 6:17 left in the period.

The Golden Griffins scored three unanswered goals in the third period with 19:36 left, then 18:45 remaining and then 18:30 left. Carter McWilliams tied the game with 4:30 left in regulation (assisted by Thomas Sansone). 

Canisius scored just minutes into overtime to take the 5-4 victory.

"Every point in conference has a huge impact come late February," Hyde said. "We have to do a better job in closing out games so we can ensure we get every needed point."

The Lakers bounced back at Crisafulli Rink Saturday with the 9-4 win. Trevor Jubran scored the team's first goal of the game with .08 seconds left in the period (assisted by Ryan Durand and Sansone). Sansone recorded a goal of his own at 1:06 of the second period (assisted by Durand). Canisius got back-to-back goals to tie the game with 11:49 left in the second frame.

McWilliams (assisted by Sansone) gave Oswego State a 3-2 lead to close out the second period scoring with 3:55 left. 

Cardi (assisted by Jubran) put the Lakers up by two, just 22 seconds into the third period before Canisius got two consecutive goals again to tie the game within the first five minutes of the period. 

Sansone recorded two more goals, first with 13:39 left in the period (assisted by McWilliams and Durand) putting the Lakers back on top, before recording the hat-trick goal with 7:21 left in the game (assisted by McWilliams and Martin Simanek). Stephen Matro added another goal (assisted by Anthony Robinson and Keyes), with Durand (assisted by Joe Marszalek and Saelens) and Jubran closed out the scoring, ensuring the 9-4 victory.