The Oswego State men's ice hockey team earned its first victory of the 2013-14 season with a 3-2 win over Buffalo State Saturday night, Nov. 2, at the Campus Center Ice Arena.
With the win, Oswego is now 1-1-0 overall and in the SUNYAC while the Bengals fall to the same mark.
Both teams came out aggressive, each scoring a goal in the opening moments of play. Oswego struck first as a barrage of Lakers barreled down on the Bengals goaltender. Dylan Smith buried the goal for his first-collegiate score off assists from Chris Waterstreet and Shawn Hulshof. Waterstreet and Hulshof's assists were both career firsts.
With the Lakers leading at the 5:19 mark, Buffalo State did not waste any time knotting up the game. At 8:26, Adam Rossi beat Mike Zawadzki for a score with assists going to Jake Rosen and Jason Cleaver.
The second period matched the first period's intensity but featured a bit more scoring. Oswego snatched the lead back on a power-play goal from Alex Botten. It was Botten's first-goal as a Laker in just his second game as Stephen Johnson and Kenny Neil assisted him on the goal.
Again the Bengals were able to answer within a three minute span, this time on a goal from Taylor Pryce. Oswego would immediately respond to the challenge.
Freshman Mat Galati stuffed the eventual game-winning score home just 53 seconds later at 13:36 off passes from Neil and Botten. Late in the second it appeared that Buffalo State had again tied the game but the goal was waved off as the referees determine the puck was kicked into the net.
The third did not yield any goals but it was a period dominated by the Lakers as they outshot the Bengals 26-1. For the game Oswego also held the advantage at a 53-26 clip.
Matt Zawadzki got the start between the pipes for the Lakers, earning his first career win while denying 24 Bengal attempts.
Oswego will return to action at 7 p.m. next Saturday, Nov. 9, as it travels to take on the Red Dragons of Cortland.
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