­­­­­BUFFALO, N.Y. – The No. 1/1 Oswego State men's ice hockey team dropped its first contest of the season—5-1—on the road to the No. 10/11 Buffalo State Bengals on Saturday evening. Oswego is now 10-1 on the year and 8-1 in the SUNYAC, while Buffalo State improves to 9-3-1 overall and 5-2-1 in the conference.

After Buffalo State grabbed an early 2-0 lead on the nationally-ranked Lakers, Alex Botten helped Oswego get on the board. While on the power play, Botten corralled passes from Stephen Johnson and Matt Galati to put it past the Bengal goalie. It was the only Laker goal in the game, as they struggled to get the puck past Mike DeLaVergne in the net.

David Jacobson started and played the entire 60 minutes in the net for the Lakers, while making more than a fair share of saves. The sophomore did all he could to stop the nationally-ranked Bengals, recording 26 stops.

Oswego struggled on the evening in the penalty department, surrendering a man six separate times. Despite this, the team killed three Bengal power play opportunities. The Lakers also turned in a solid tally in the faceoff department, winning 26 on the night. Botten earned 11 controls, Andrew Barton tallied five, while Joey Davies and Chris Waterstreet earned four each.

Oswego returns to action just prior to the the calendar flipping over to 2017 as it travels to Northfield, Vt. to take part in the Norwich Holiday Tournament. First up is Williams College at 4 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 30.