The No. 4 Oswego State men's ice hockey team fell 4-1 to Manhattanville College in the title game of the PathFinder Bank Hockey Classic on Saturday night in the Marano Campus Center Arena. Oswego is now 10-3-1 on the year while the Valiants go to 8-4-2.
Leading 1-0 heading into the final period, Manhattanville was able to notch a pair of goals on special situations. Its first came in a 4-on-4 situation at 3:03 and the second came a little less than two minutes later on a 5-on-3. The Lakers handled another 5-on-3 later in the period to maintain the three-goal deficit and were able to cut the margin to two with 1:23 to play when Michael Gillespie went top shelf, bar down. Oswego elected to use its timeout prior to the ensuing faceoff and emptied its net for an extra skater. The Lakers applied pressure over the final minute but an empty-net score stopped a comeback try.
Oswego had several chances in the first period, outshooting the Valiants 13-5. The Lakers had seven minutes on an extra-man opportunity, as Manhattanville was first called for a two-minute, too many men on the ice penalty before being whistled for a five-minute spear. Over the seven minutes on the power-play, Oswego put six shots on-goal, but each attempt was stopped by eventual tournament most valuable player Tyler Feaver.
Immediately following the expiration of the five-minute major, the Valiants tallied the opening period's only goal on an odd-man rush.
The second period provided no change in score as neither team found the back of the net. Again Oswego outshot Manhattanville, but by a narrowed margin of just one, 12-11, putting the two-period total at 25-16. The Lakers had a few grade-A opportunities but were turned away by the Valiants' goalie. Oswego did successfully kill its first penalty of the night, a two-minute slash late in the period. Manhattanville was able to put two shots on net but Laker goalie David Richer saved both chances. The sophomore went on to make 28 saves in the tilt despite taking just his first loss of the 2017-18 campaign.
ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
#30 Tyler Feaver, G, Manhattanville (MVP)
#17, Stephen Gaul, F, Manhattanville
#13 Josh Zizek, F, Oswego
#19 Kevin Loppatto, F, Manhattanville
#1 Brandon Kasel, G, Skidmore
#53 Tyler Wolf, F, Hobart
