Stunned: Lakers Skate to 5-5 Tie With Winless Mo-ville

The Morrisville Mustangs came into Friday nights game as the last place team in the SUNYAC standings. But, they mustered up enough firepower and some great goaltending from Caylin Relkoff skate toe to toe with the 3rd ranked Lakers. The Laker defense for most of the game was disappointing to say the least, and allowed too many open shots on net. In addition the penalty kill team gave up two goals to the Mustangs.

At 19:59.8 in the third period, Ron Sgarbossa knotted the game up with a buzzer beating deflection from Evan Kernohan. The shot somehow found its way by a logjam in front of Laker goaltender Chris Hyk, and sneaked by him with .2 seconds left on the clock. This was a deflating blow for the Lakers as they clawed their way back to a late third period lead behind a Brendan McLaughlin powerplay goal. Everyone in attendance as well as the Laker players were stunned beyond disbelief at what unfolded.

Captain Peter Magagna and coach Ed Gosek had a few minutes to rally the "troops" before the sudden death overtime. The Lakers didn't have much time to recuperate, but they came out strong in the extra session. They dominated the Mustangs for a majority of the overtime keeping the puck in their zone. But, they failed to make anything happen.

In the closing minute of the overtime frame, Chris Hyk made an amazing glove save to keep the Mustangs from escaping with a win. The shot looked like it was destined to hit the back of the net, but Hyk saved the Lakers from an devestating overtime loss. The Lakers had numerous opportunities in the last 50 seconds of the game in their offensive zone, but failed to push it past Relkoff. When the buzzer sounded to the tune of a 5-5 tie, you could feel the Campus Center Ice Arena deflate.

After an impressive Western New York road swing last weekend, the Lakers failed to take care of business on their home ice. This loss can solely be attributed to a lackadaisical defense, which created too many openings for the Mustangs. In addition passing was an issue early ending any chance at leveling a steady offensive attack against Caylin Relkoff. The powerplay unit again failed to capitalize on their man advantages as well going 1-7 on the night.

The Lakers have a huge homestand coming up next weekend against Brockport and Geneseo. It is quite possible that the thought of those games loomed in the back of the Lakers minds. It is difficult to get up for games like these, and it became more apparent as the night went on that the Lakers had to pick up the pace to stay with Morrisville. After a undiscplined and sloppy second period of play the Lakers kicked it into another gear in the third period. The Lakers should look at the silver lining after this game, and that is they again showed a lot of heart down the stretch.

Jared Crast
Photo by Annie Faure