The nationally-ranked Oswego State men's ice hockey (9-1-1) returned from a short winter break hiatus and did not miss a step in a 6-2 win over Neumann University (4-6-1) on the first day of Middlebury College's Holiday Tournament on Saturday afternoon.
Oswego will now face the host Panthers at 4 p.m. on Sunday in the title game to try and ring in the New Year on a five-game win streak. Middlebury advanced to the championship with a 4-0 shutout of St. Michael's College in the day's first contest.
Oswego – ranked No. 2 in the latest D3hockey.com poll and third in the most recent USCHO rankings – earned all it would need in the first period. Mitch Herliheystarted the Lakers off on fire, scoring the game's first two goals less than three minutes apart in the first half of the opening period. First, Devin Campbell split the defensive zone with a pass to Herlihey that the senior captain cashed in at 6:29. At 9:26, assistant captain Cameron Berry retrieved the puck in front of the net and sent a short pass to Herlihey at the of the crease. Herlihey finished the job as lifted a backhand past the Knights' goaltender. The tilt's game-winner came from Aaron Huffnagle at the 13:37 mark of the first 20 minutes, cutting through the slot and slipping the puck past the netminder. Josh Zizek and Tanner Spink each collected an assist on Huffnagle's tally.
The Lakers would make it 4-0 just 2:01 into the middle period as Spink found his way into the scoring column. Max Novick initiated the score by intercepting a clear attempt by Neumann. Novick put a shot on net that was saved but Spink was there to clean up the rebound. Neumann found the back of the net late in the second period on a power-play to send the game to the final intermission at 4-1.
Oswego tacked on two more goals in the final period, first at 7:30 from Jody Sullivan. The sophomore was aided by Tyler Currie, who started the transition, and David Ferreira, who dished to Sullivan on a 2-on-1 situation, before he found the back of the net. Just 1:58 later, Spink recorded his third point of the night and second goal off some tic-tac-toe passing between Huffnagle and Zizek to find the freshman. Neumann was able to put one more on the board with exactly 2:00 left to arrive at the 6-2 final.
David Richer made 16 saves in net for Oswego, as the sophomore remained unbeated at 5-0-1 on the year.
