Luke Moodie (Sr., Oakville, Ontario) set the tone for the fifth-ranked Oswego State men's ice hockey team (15-3-0) right away by scoring 39 seconds into the contest en route to an 8-0 victory over non-conference Hamilton (4-8-3) Saturday night, Jan. 19, at the Campus Center Ice Arena.
Moodie finished the night with a goal and two assists along with Jon Whitelaw (Sr., Huntsville, Ontario), who recorded the same points, while Tyler Leimbrock knocked in two goals.
Less than a minute into the game, Paul Rodrigues (Sr., Etobicoke, Ontario) laced a pass through the neutral zone to Jon Whitelaw as he and Luke Moodie had a 2-on-1 breakaway. Whitelaw drew the defenseman on the right side before sliding the puck to Moodie, who carried the puck through the crease with his backhand as Hamilton goalie Joe Quattrocchi went to the ice. Moodie had an open net to tap in his 13th goal of the season.
Midway through the first period, Chris Muise (Sr., Oakville, Ontario) forced a Hamilton turnover in its defensive zone as it was trying to clear the puck. An errant pass from behind the net went to Chris Ayotte (Sr., Cornwall, Ontario) in the left circle where he rocketed a wrist shot top shelf, stick side at 12:54. Less than two minutes later, Rodrigues, Moodie, and Whitelaw hooked up for another goal when Rodrigues buried a pair of tic-tac-toe passes from his linemates, giving Oswego State a 3-0 lead at the break.
The Lakers continued to click offensively, as Whitelaw caught a Jesse McConney (Sr., Barrie, Ontario) pass at neutral ice after getting behind both defenders. He skated in alone on Cam Gibbar, who started the second period in goal for the Continentals, to score his fifth marker of the season 19 seconds into the frame.
It would the first of three second-period goals, as Peter Rodrigues (So., Markham, Ontario) netted his first collegiate goal from the crease at 3:08 and Tyler Leimbrock found the back of the goal three minutes later. Matt Singleton (Sr., Whitby, Ontario) assisted Rodrigues' goal, while Zach Josepher (Sr., Wantagh, N.Y.) earned the helper on Leimbrock's tally.
Leimbrock posted his second marker of the contest on a broken play in front of Gibbar at 2:34 in the third to make the score 7-0. However, Taylor Farris (Sr., Oakville, Ontario) rounded out the scoring with his first goal of the season after Eli Kim-Swallow (So., Toronto, Ontario) found Farris open for the shot.
In a game that had few penalties called, Oswego State went 0-for-3 on the power play compared to Hamilton, which went 0-for-2.
Andrew Hare (Sr., Burlington, Ontario) turned aside all 18 shots on goal that he faced to pick up his fourth shutout of the season and ninth shutout of his Laker career. Joe Quattrocchi made 12 saves in the first period before Cam Gibbar made 21 saves in the final two periods.
Oswego State plays the second game of its four-game homestand to close out the regular season when it hosts Brockport next Friday, Jan. 25, at 7 p.m.
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