College Hockey:

This Week in SUNYAC

Midterms

With the second semester of the 2007-08 college hockey season underway, it’s a good time to take a look at the first semester for surprises, disappointments, and meeting expectations.

Perhaps the two biggest surprises sit on top of the league. One for good reason, the other due to disappointment.

A few weeks back, I talked about Plattsburgh being back as a dominating force. That trend continues. They are undefeated in the SUNYAC at 9-0, and hold an outstanding 15-2 overall record. And their two losses are nothing to be ashamed about. Both were by 3-2 scores against top ranked teams — Elmira and Middlebury — on the road. They have beaten Norwich twice and defeated Oswego on the road.

Their defense continues to be stingy, letting up less than two goals a game while their offense scores over five. It definitely appears to be the Plattsburgh of old.

Back at that time, Plattsburgh coach Bob Emery said, “My goal is always to play better at the end of the year.”

They appear right on track to achieve that goal.

One would be hard pressed to say a team which has a 7-1-1 conference record for second place is a disappointment. But when you are the national champions and hold a 10-4-2 overall record, it is not up to par, especially when you only lose one key player from the previous year.

Oswego has struggled by the lofty standards their fans hold them to. However, looking closely at their record, perhaps those fans are being too harsh. They lost and tied Elmira who is currently ranked second in the nation. They lost to Plattsburgh, mentioned above. The Lakers lost to Hobart, another ranked team. Perhaps their only real blemishes on the season are a recent loss to Amherst and a tie against Fredonia.

However, there is no denying Oswego is struggling in the two key areas that won them the national title: scoring goals and goaltending. They have tallied less than four goals a game, and All-American Ryan Scott has struggled.

“Granted we haven’t been scoring the way we had hoped,” Oswego coach Ed Gosek said of Scott. “But in those situations, we need him to at least match what the other goalies are bringing.”

As for the team overall, Gosek admits:

“We haven’t been able to have a lot of fun this year. It’s been a grind. We’ve been trying to live up to everybody’s expectation. Teams have come in and played us very hard. At the end of it, we’re sick of the moral victory. We can say we outshoot teams. We’re working hard. The bottom line is we have to get results. I don’t care if we play a lousy game as long as we get the W. We’ve got 11 games to go here to get things going. We’re at ground zero and have to work our way up and peak at the right time of
the year.”

Potsdam has been a surprise on the good side of the ledger. The Bears came off a poor year, and most expected rookie coach Aaron Saul to need at least a year to turn things around. But Potsdam sits in third place and has an overall record of 6-7-3, including some strong games against very good teams. They have already won more games in league and overall than last season.

“Very proud of the team,” Saul said. “To be as high as third place in the SUNYAC was a lofty goal by our coaches. Very exciting for the team. Obviously, staying on top is something we’d like to do. We’re better than many thought we would be. We won’t be able to sneak up on teams anymore. Trying to host a playoff game was always our goal, and that is what we are going to try and reach.”

On the disappointment side, Geneseo and Buffalo State would both fall into that category. The Ice Knights are 4-5 in league and 5-10 overall. Included in that record are disappointing losses to Cortland and Potsdam.

“It just comes down to finding ways to win close hockey games with [five] one-goal losses [three in overtime],” Geneseo coach Chris Schultz said before the break. “We’re not getting the job done. We’re close, but close isn’t good enough. We knew coming in when you lose [Mike] McDonald and [Mitch] Stephens, those were the big game breakers. Those were the guys you could depend on to get the tying and winning goals and turn it around.”

Buffalo State expected this to be a breakout year. Instead, they are 3-4-2 in the conference (6-8-2 overall), but the Bengals do have two games in hand, and they are currently tied for fourth. They have also won their last four games in a row. If this trend continues, perhaps they can still make this their breakout year.

However, one trend that has to be reversed is the number of penalties they are committing. The Bengals are the most penalized team in the league with 19.3 minutes per game.

It’s tough to determine whether Brockport has been a disappointment or not. Looking at their record, one would say yes, especially since they are currently out of the playoffs at 2-4-1 (3-9-2 overall). However, they have been playing some very good hockey, have given some excellent teams a scare or two, and are the fourth best offensive team both in conference play and overall stats.

Obviously, it ultimately comes down to wins and losses, especially coming off their first playoff year in a long time. With the way they are playing, one can see the Golden Eagles getting on a winning streak that will put them exactly where some expected.

Fredonia sits in a tie for fourth place with a modest 3-2-2 league record and 7-5-3 overall — pretty much what they were doing last year before they got red hot in the playoffs. Cortland also sits essentially where most people expected them to be. At 3-5 in the SUNYAC (6-8-1) the Red Dragons still have playoff hopes on their mind.

Morrisville is in last place. That may be expected, but so far they have not been able to do what they did last year — beat some SUNYAC teams. They are 0-11 in their new conference.

Missed Match Up

After Oswego defeated St. Norbert, 4-3 in overtime, in last year’s national semifinal, everyone was looking forward to the following season’s Pathfinder Bank Oswego Hockey Classic for a possible rematch as the Green Knights were the Western representative in the tournament.

However, the hosts did not accommodate the fans as Oswego lost to Amherst, 3-1, while St. Norbert won their semifinal game, 5-2, against Curry.

Next year, as Oswego will take a return trip out west, the two teams are guaranteed to meet each other.

“We definitely wanted to see Oswego,” St. Norbert coach Tim Coghlin said. “I wanted Oswego. I wanted that match-up. I promise you this, when they come back to us next year, and I already talked to Eddie about this, I said if we get the opportunity to see each other here, then he’ll probably play somebody else next year in the first game, but because that didn’t happen you’ll probably see a St. Norbert-Oswego game in the Friday opener at our place.”

Coghlin did get an appreciation of what hockey means to the Oswego community.

“They have treated us exceptionally well,” he said. “Just look at the venue. It’s unbelievable. The little restaurants where we stopped for a bite to eat. The fans here, they are rabid. I honestly being in this game as long as I’ve been around didn’t realize the hockey tradition and history in the city of Oswego. The people here have been spectacular. We would make this trip any day of the week. We’ve had a tremendous experience for us kids.”

SUNYAC Short Shots

Kyle Gunn-Taylor made 43 saves and let up three goals in Buffalo State’s sweep of Lebanon Valley, 4-1 and 3-2 … Garren Reisweber scored a pair of goals in Oswego’s 7-1 win over Morrisville … The next night, Keith Williams scored a pair of goals for Morrisville and Brett Freese made 44 saves, but the Mustangs still lost to Oswego, 6-5 … Plattsburgh scored two goals in the last 2:11 with the goalie pulled, but it was too little too late as they lost to Middlebury, 3-2 … In Brockport’s surprising 4-4 tie against Elmira, Gordon Pritchard scored the final goal 56 seconds into the third period … Plattsburgh only got 19 shots on goal against Williams but scored eight times by eight different players