Box Score
With the score tied after two periods, the No. 1-ranked Oswego State men's ice hockey team registered four third-period goals to hold off upset-minded Morrisville with a 5-3 win on Saturday night in Morrisville. The score was knotted at two goals apiece with 14:14 to play before the Lakers tallied two goals in less than two minutes to remain undefeated in conference play at 14-0-0, and improve to 22-1-0 overall. Morrisville fell to 7-15-0 overall and 4-10-0 in the SUNYAC standings.
The victory clinched the top-seed throughout the upcoming SUNYAC Tournament for Oswego State, which will host a semifinal contest on Saturday, February 27 at 7 p.m. against the lowest remaining seed. The Lakers will close out the regular season on the road against Brockport on Friday, Feb. 19 and Geneseo on Saturday, Feb. 20.
The Mustangs opened the scoring at the 4:02 mark in the first period with a goal by Matt Salmon after being assisted by Chris Cerbino and Jon Cristini. The Lakers evened the score later in the frame when Paul Rodrigues (Fr,. Etobicoke, Ont.) lit the lamp with his sixth goal of the season. Luke Moodie (Fr., Burlington, Ont.) and Jon Whitelaw (Fr., Huntsville, Ont.) were credited with assists on the score with 1:56 remaining in the stanza to send the squads into the locker room even at 1-1.
After a scoreless second period, Whitelaw broke the tie at 3:09 in the third after he received a pass from Moodie and Rodrigues to give Oswego State a 2-1 edge. Minutes later, the Mustangs' Rob Sgarbossa knotted the game at 2-2 with 14:14 remaining in regulation.
Shortly after the goal, Morrisville went on the power play, but the Laker penalty kill unit stood tall keeping the Mustangs off of the board. This energized Oswego State as it scored 24 seconds later when Chris Laganiere (Jr., Owego, N.Y.) got the puck past Morrisville goalie Caylin Relkoff after being fed a pass by Eric Selleck (So., Spencerville, Ont.). Just over a minute later, Owen Kelly (Jr., Plattsburgh, N.Y.) notched the eventual game-winning goal with assists going to Justin Fox (Jr., Whitby, N.Y.) and Matt Singleton (Fr., Brooklin, Ont.) to give the Lakers a two-goal cushion.
Andrew Mather (So., Ottawa, Ont.) tacked on a power-play goal at the 17:14 mark, as Selleck and Fox earned assists on the goal. Morrisville's Tom Longland scored with three seconds remaining for the final 5-3 score.
Oswego State netminder Kyle Gunn-Taylor (Sr., West Seneca, N.Y.) recorded 20 saves on 23 shots with 12 stops coming in the third period to improve to 15-0-0 on the season. Relkoff compiled 29 saves in the losing effort for the Mustangs.
