The Story of Plattsburgh and Oswego State

Saturday, March 6, 1976. Basketball coach Bob Knight, 35, leads his Indiana Hoosiers to a 96-67 win over Ohio State at Assembly Hall. The victory makes Indiana the first team since John Wooden's UCLA Bruins with back-to-back undefeated regular seasons.

Seven hundred miles to the northeast, a hockey game was taking place inside an old Navy drill hall near Lake Ontario; a barn known as the Golden Romney Field House. An upstart SUNY Plattsburgh team was in the home stretch of their inaugural season. Coach John Cocker led the Cardinals to a respectable 13-10-1 record up to that point.

The Oswego State Lakers were celebrating their program's tenth season and looking for momentum heading into post-season play. Coach Herb Hancock was in his eighth season as head coach of the Lakers.

Oswego State would win the first Cardinal-Laker game that night. There is no record of the final score, only an "L" placed in the results column of the Plattsburgh media guide. Lakers coach Herb Hammond could not have known at the time that the Cardinals would go on to become his program's most hated rival. Nor could he have known that he would be the spark to ignite the intense feud.

Following the 1980 season, after twelve years at the helm of Oswego State, Herb Hammond left the school. His new employer? SUNY Plattsburgh. Hammond's final Laker squad was the program's greatest of all time to that point. They won their first SUNYAC title, finished with 27 wins, and scored 245 goals. Hammond had guided Oswego State hockey to its highest point, and walked away. A rivalry was born.

If the Plattsburgh-Oswego State feud needed anymore fuel, it would come at the end of the 1980-81 season. Hammond's Cardinals ended Oswego State's season in the ECAC West playoffs. Worse, they did it at Romney Field House in front of the Laker faithful. Hammond would leave Plattsburgh a year later to coach Division I Brown. He would eventually sign with the New York Rangers as a scout, and has his name eternally etched in Lord Stanley's Cup as a result of the franchise's 1994 championship.

The animosity between Plattsburgh and Oswego State would not leave with Hammond. The teams would square off numerous times over the next few decades, including several post-season meetings. The Lakers put an end to Plattsburgh's 1982-83 season with a 9-6 win in the ECAC West playoffs. However, the Cardinals finished with a better SUNYAC record and were crowned conference champions a record fourth time, surpassing the Lakers mark of three titles.

From 1977-1993, the only school to win a SUNYAC title other than Plattsburgh or Oswego State would be the 1986 Geneseo Knights. The conference had instituted a playoff the year before that. The participants in that inaugural 1985 SUNYAC title game? Plattsburgh and Oswego State. The result? A victory for the Cardinals at Romney Field House.

The 1986-87 season saw both schools advance to the Frozen Four in Plattsburgh. Both the Lakers and Cardinals won their semi-final games to set up a dream-match final. Plattsburgh had already defeated Oswego State on five occasions that season. A sixth win would prove to be a cake walk as the Cards rolled to an 8-3 championship victory. However, the title would later be vacated due to Plattsburgh's use of ineligible athletes.

Perhaps the most painful loss for Laker fans took place on Feb. 25, 2006. Romney Field House was to close down at the end of the season. The Lakers finished their regular season home schedule with wins over Plattsburgh and Potsdam. A road win over Brockport gave Oswego State the top spot going into the SUNYAC tournament. That meant a bye into the semifinals and home ice. Romney's doors would open again.

Plattsburgh swept Buffalo State in the conference quarterfinals and made their way to Oswego. The Cards beat the Lakers 6-3 in game one, scoring the game's last six goals, three in the final nine minutes. They were 60 minutes away from closing Romney Field House for good.

Oswego State entered game two with their backs against the wall. A loss meant the end of the season and the end of an era.

Senior Jocelyn Dubord saw his Laker career on the line. Perhaps that is what brought out his aggressiveness in the game's opening minutes. Unfortunately, he proved to be too aggressive for referee Dan Murphy's taste. Dubord was sent to the penalty box twice in the game's first four minutes. The Laker penalty kill unit was able to hold off the Cardinal attack each time.

The game remained scoreless until Derrell Levy found the back of the net in the ninth minute. The Lakers had struck first for the second straight night. However, Plattsburgh would waste no time settling the score. Dubord would go to the box once again, this time for hooking. Waiting for him was Rick Varone, who had been whistled for interference some 41 seconds earlier. Plattsburgh's Kevin Galan capitalized on the 5-on-3 as he lit the lamp in the 13th minute. The clubs skated to the locker room all squared at one.

The penalty bug bit the Lakers again to start the second period. Ryan Woodward and Matt Whitehead could only watch from the sin bin as Galan found twine once again in the game's 24th minute. Moments later, Deryk Whitehead's marker put the Cards up 3-1 going into the second break. The Romney rink looked to be on life support, with just 20 minutes separating the old barn from extinction.

Oswego State took the ice for the third period poised for a comeback. The Lakers were unable to capitalize on a pair of early Cardinal penalties, they would finish the game 0-for-5 on the power play despite leading the nation in that category. But in the ninth minute, Laker freshman Matt Whitehead would find the back of the net for the second time in as many nights. Oswego State was within goal and riding momentum. Then a bagel hit the ice.

It had been a long-standing practice at both Plattsburgh and Oswego to throw objects onto the ice after the home team scored its first goal. Plattsburgh fans would throw tennis balls in the games played at Stafford Ice Arena, Laker fans would throw bagels in games at Romney. Any object thrown onto the ice after the first goal would result in a delay of game penalty against the home team. The playoffs were no exception, and Garren Reisweber skated to the box to serve his two minutes on account of the fans.

Plattsburgh capitalized five seconds before the penalty was set to expire. Sophomore Mike Baccaro scored Plattsburgh's third power play goal of the night. The Cardinals led 4-2 with less than 12 minutes to play. The Lakers never recovered, and Plattsburgh tacked on an empty net goal for the final tally of 5-2. After 39 years of service as home to the Lakers, Romney Field House had seen its last game.

Nearly one year after closing Oswego State's old house, Plattsburgh looked to be the first visiting victor in their new one. The Lakers had won their first 12 games at their brand new Campus Center Ice Arena home. No opponent had managed more than three goals in the new facility, and eight of them were held to a goal or less. The Cardinals came in with just one win in their last three games. They had struggled with conference foes, going 4-4-4 in SUNYAC play.

Three minutes into their Campus Center debut, Plattsburgh was ahead 1-0. They became only the second opposing team to hold a lead in the new Laker barn, Geneseo had become the first two weeks prior in a losing effort. However, Oswego State evened the score up on a Rich Zalewski marker before the end of the period.

That would be the last Laker goal of the night as Chris Molinaro stopped 27 shots to help Plattsburgh to a 4-1 victory. Plattsburgh had etched their name in Oswego hockey history once again.

More than seven months later, Oswego State opens their 2007-08 SUNYAC season against none other than #14 Plattsburgh. The two teams are picked to finish at the top of the conference standings in the pre-season poll.

Ryan Maloney

Special thanks to CardinalHockey.net for linking to this article.