The nationally-ranked Oswego State men's ice hockey team took the nation's No. 1 team, Plattsburgh State, the distance in a 3-3 tie on Saturday night during White Out Weekend in-front of a sellout crowd of 3,000 fans in the Campus Center Ice Arena.
After an evenly played and scoreless first period, action came early and often in the second period. Oswego got on the scoreboard first as David Titanic beat the Plattsburgh goaltender stick side with a rifled shot. The senior received a pass from Andrew Barton who was credited with an assist on the goal at 3:45.
The Cardinals did not take long to answer as they scored just seven seconds into a power play opportunity. At 5:21, Rich Botting fired a shot past Matt Zawadzki's glove side. Plattsburgh's goal came on the heels of an interference call against the Lakers.
Later in the period, Oswego held off the Cardinals on another extra-man opportunity before taking the lead again.Shawn Hulshof scored bar down in the upper right corner of the goal at 16:11. The goal was made possible by Matt Galati's outlet pass over the red line in transition.
Oswego took the 2-1 advantage into the intermission but the lead did not last long into the third period. Just 1:38 into the final 20 minutes, Alex Jensen sent a shot to the back of the net to tie the contest at 2-2.
Mike Wills would not let the lead stand for long however, scoring the equalizer five minutes later at 6:56. Wills played copycat to Hulshof's earlier goal, going bar down off a pass from Galati.
The Oswego man-down defense would be huge in the final minutes of the game as the Lakers were whistled for a two-minute interference penalty with just 2:17 showing on the clock. Zawadzki came up with four important saves during the penalty while Bobby Gertsakis blocked Plattsburgh try from close range.
Zawadzki played a solid game in net for the Lakers, stopping 35 shots from the Cardinals.
Oswego will return to action after the New Year when it hosts the Pathfinder Bank/Oswego State Hockey Classic on Jan. 3 and 4. The Lakers will open at 7 p.m. on Friday with Curry College.
