The Oswego State men's ice hockey team advanced to the championship game of the PathFinder Bank/Oswego State Hockey Classic with a 4-2 victory over Tufts University on Friday night at the Marano Campus Center Arena. Oswego, which is ranked No. 4 in the latest D3hockey.com poll and No. 6 by USCHO, will face Nazareth College at 7 p.m. on Saturday. The Lakers defeated the Golden Flyers 4-0 at home earlier this season.
Tufts got on the board first just over five minutes into the game but Oswego quickly answered just two minutes later. At 7:26, Mike Montagna notched his third goal of the year off passes from Mitchell Herlihey and Shawn Hulshof. The score remained knotted at 1-1 through to the first intermission.
In the second period, Matt Galati gave Oswego a lead it would never relinquish with a power-play goal just six-seconds into the penalty. The sophomore's sixth of the year came from Alex Botten and Andrew Barton. Just minutes after the Galati goal, Brandon Adams stretch the Laker lead to 3-1. Adams swooped down the boards after outlet passes from Nick Rivait and Sean Federow, drilling a puck off the post and past the goalie. That goal proved to be the game-winner.
Shawn Hulshof added Oswego's final goal with just under five to play in the game. Hulshof batted a Rivait shot from the blue line by the Jumbos' goaltender for the tally. Montagna was also in on the play with an assist.
Tufts scored a goal with 32.9 seconds left in regulation to arrive at the final of 4-2.
Oswego was outstanding on special teams, stopping Tufts on all four of its power-play chances. The Lakers also went 1-for-2 on their own man-up opportunities.
Matt Zawadzki earned his third win of the year in the contest, making 22 saves in net.
