OSWEGO, N.Y. – The nationally-ranked Oswego State men’s ice hockey team made it a clean sweep of the Morrisville State Mustangs with a 5-1 victory on Saturday night in the Marano Campus Center Arena. Oswego’s win is its 10th in conference action this season, improving to 16-4-1 overall and 10-1-1 in the SUNYAC. The Mustangs drop to 5-7-2 in the league and 7-10-5 overall.
In the first period, the Lakers picked up right where it left on Friday, scoring two unanswered before heading to the locker room at intermission. Krystian Yorke put the squad on the board with a goal less than five minutes into the contest. The sophomore’s goal came at 4:53 on assists from Mike Montagna and Shawn Hulshof, two-thirds of the 14-point second line from Friday’s game.
After several close chances for the Lakers throughout the opening 20 minutes, the team broke through again at 18:48. This time it was Sean Federow carrying the puck into the offensive and dumping it off to Matt Galati. Galati quickly found classmate Alex Botten streaking towards the cage, dishing the puck for a pretty backhand goal.
Morrisville made it a one-goal game in the early portions of the second with a power-play tally. Oswego played down two men for 19 seconds, which Bobby Gertsakis made two stellar defensive plays to allow one Laker back on the ice. The senior cleared the puck out of the zone and then as a Mustang skater broke free, Gertsakis jarred the puck loose from behind before a shot could be attempted. Moments later, however, Morrisville capitalized when Joseph Santino scored at 7:12 off a pass from Marc-Antione Chaput.
Oswego would not let the Mustangs have the last laugh in the middle period, as the complete middle line teamed up for a late goal. With under a minute to play in the second, Hulshof found Mitchell Herlihey who made his way to the corner with the puck. Herlihey paused for a moment before darting a pass back to Hulshof near the right side of the crease. Hulshof quickly flicked the puck over to Montagna who fired shot on net that the goalie could not handle, trickling past the goal line for a score with nine seconds remaining in the period.
The Lakers added two scores in the final period, both coming on the power-play, the first after Morrisville was nabbed for slashing at 9:48. At 11:12, Hulshof notched yet another point on the weekend, this one on a score off Gertsakis and Botten assists.
Hulshof would not lay off the gas, putting in the game’s final goal with just 6.1 seconds to play following a Mustangs’ cross-checking infraction. The assists on the goal were again credited to Botten and Gertsakis.
Justin Gilbert got his second win in as many nights, making 20 saves, many of which came in unorthodox fashion, bringing the Laker fans to their feet. In one span during the second period, Gilbert made several saves without his glove or stick, along with a few stops by his defenders.
The Lakers finished with a 53-21 advantage on shots and went 2-for-5 on extra-man chances.
Oswego will hit the ice again at 7 p.m. on Friday when it travels to Brockport as part of its final SUNYAC road series of the regular season.
