The No. 2/3 Oswego State men's ice hockey team dropped a 4-3 contest at Middlebury College in the title game of the Panthers' tournament on Sunday evening at Kenyon Arena. It is just the Lakers' second loss of the campaign, as they fall to 9-2-1 while the Panthers improve to 3-7-0.
After a scoreless second period and both teams knotted at 2-2, Middlebury notched a goal at 6:37 of the final period to assume its first lead of the contest. Nearly 10 minutes later, Oswego capitalized on a power-play opportunity when Michael Gillespie cashed in a goal on passes from Tyler Currie and Cameron Berry. With the game at a 3-3 stalemate, the Panthers notched the game-winner with 2:29 remaining in unassisted fashion.
In the opening period, both teams traded a pair of goals, with the Lakers starting off the action. Just 2:22 into the contest, Carter Allen and Jody Sullivan were able to find sophomore Tyson Bruce for his first goal of 2017-18 and the second of his career. Bruce was not done on the scoresheet in the opening 20 minutes, however. After the Panthers were able to even the score 2:29 later, Oswego regained its lead with a little more than two minutes to play in the first. It started with a secondary assist from Bruce to Devin Campbell who found David Ferreira for the senior's second goal of the year. It was Ferreira's second point in as many nights, showing he had not lost a step after a more than two-month layoff due to injury. With just 50 seconds remaining in the first, however, the home team was able to push the game back to even heading into the intermission.
Statistically, Oswego owned most categories, including shots (37-19) and faceoffs (32-25). On special teams, Oswego's penalty kill unit held the Panthers off the board on four chances while the Laker power play scored on 1-of-4 extra-man opportunities.
The Lakers will be back in action at 7 p.m. on Friday when they hosts Skidmore College in the second tilt of the opening round of the annual PathFinder Bank/Oswego State Hockey Classic. At 4 p.m. that day, Hobart College and Manhattanville College will faceoff in the tournament's first contest.
