By Warren Kozireski —
The points haven’t come quite as fast as Oswego senior forward Michael Gillespie would like or as they did for his first two seasons with the Lakers, but he has helped them into first place as they get ready to resume SUNYAC conference play this coming weekend.
The New City native and former Clarkstown High player for three seasons arrived in central New York three seasons ago, but it was a circuitous route.
It all started when his dad—the coach with the New York Saints in the Metropolitan Junior Hockey League—traded his son to the New Jersey Rockets.
“My dad was coaching the Saints and he actually traded me to the Rockets because they doing better,” Gillespie said after a mid-January contest. “But it was a good move and honestly was the first right step in my hockey career playing with the right guys and that’s where I started getting all of my Division I looks.
“Turning point in my career was my dad trading me to a different team.”
While there, Gillespie committed to Niagara University. He then played the 2014-15 season with Lincoln in the USHL and quickly decommitted to Niagara and decided to play collegiately at Ohio State.
That lasted eight games, where he scored his first goal, before he decided to leave and return to finish out the season in Lincoln and stay for an additional season in 2016-17 when he committed to the University of Western Michigan.
But instead, he ended up in Oswego for now three seasons.
“Definitely of a story. Niagara was my plan and I really didn’t know much about the USHL until I got drafted there. Then I got there and solidified my spot. I really didn’t know about all of the Midwest schools and as my (advisor) kept looking I kept playing better and got looks from other schools and…I ended decommitting from Niagara and went to Ohio State.
“I was really excited to go (to Western Michigan), but it turned out I was a couple credits short eligibility-wise with all of the transfers and switches and taking classes back in juniors and not taking the right ones for my major.
“The day that happened I got on the phone with Eddie (Oswego head coach Gosek) right here and he was more than welcoming to have me come and visit the school.
“Arms wide open and everything was top-notch and they’ve treated me with high-class. It’s my home away from home and I’ve never had a team be like this where coaches and team building a family at the rink and the fans.”
Now it’s down to the final ten games in Gillespie’s final collegiate campaign.
He had two goals and five assists over the first 13 games this season, but entered 2019-20 as almost a point-per-game player with 50 points in 51 games, so the offense could come at any time.
“My game is to keep making plays. (Coach) is happy with my 200-foot game and now it’s just trying to get it all to come together. Try to get the team to be as successful as we can be going into the second half, make a run to the playoffs and hopefully make a run to the national tournament if we can.
“I definitely want to keep playing after here; that’s my plan and what I’ve been working towards.”
