This Time...It's For Real

The greatest rivals in all of D3 hockey will meet again next Saturday after Plattsburgh and Oswego both advanced to the SUNYAC final.  The Cards topped Brockport 5-2 tonight while Oswego erased an early three-goal deficit to beat Morrisville 8-5. 

This marks the third straight season in which the SUNYAC title will be decided in a Plattsburgh-Oswego matchup.  The Cardinals have defeated Oswego in each of the last two championship meetings.  However, unlike those two previous title games, the 2010 final will be played in Oswego.  Check back with TheVOTL.com throughout the week for more on this rivalry and the upcoming game.

SUNYAC Semifinal Live Blog

The SUNY Oswego student media groups are warring on the USCHO message board again and that can only mean one thing: it's playoff time.

Oswego State enters the SUNYAC's annual postseason tournament as the top seed in the conference.  Morrisville qualified for the playoffs in their first season of eligibility and enter the Campus Center as an upset-minded six-seed.  They are coming off of a surprising victory in Tuesday night's first round action, a 3-2 overtime decision over third-seeded Fredonia.

Tonight's game is being webcast by both WTOP and WNYO.  Time Warner SportsNet is broadcasting the game on channel 13.  TheVOTL.com has got the live blog scene on lockdown:

UPDATE: We are less thn 10 minutes into the first period and Morrisville has stunned the Lakers by scoring the game's first three goals.  Coach Ed Gosek has just pulled senior Kyle Gunn-Taylor and replaced him in net with sophomore Paul Beckwith.  Gunn-Taylor's line reads: five shots faced, two saves...ouch.  I wonder if Vyacheslav Bykov is watching.

UPDATE: The Mustangs already have two solid scoring chances on Beckwith as the Laker defense looks flat-footed.  Brian Grady has got his boys ready to play tonight, that's for sure.  Keep in mind, it was just last season that the Mustangs came away from the Campus Center with a tie.

UPDATE: Freshman Tyler Leimbrock has just put the Lakers on the board with a rebound off a right-wing wrister from senior Neil Musselwhite.  There are just under seven minutes remaining and it's a 3-1 advantage for Morrisville.  It should be interesting to see how the Mustangs deal with a crowd that is now very much alive.

UPDATE: Musselwhite camped out on the edge of the crease and pots a goal past Caylin Relkoff to cut the Morrisville lead to 3-2.  The replay shows that he barely got a stick on the wraparound feed from Brad Dormiedy, but Relkoff was slow to react and the puck slowly made it past the goal line.  Less than three minutes remaining now and the Lakers are already going on a power play to try and tie things up.

END OF 1ST PERIOD: Morrisville manages to kill of the penalty and retain their one-goal lead going into the dressing room.  The Lakers have outshot the Ponies 15-9 and have reacted positively to the goalie switch midway through the period.  Beckwith faced four shots after relieving Gunn-Taylor, stopping all of them.

2ND PERIOD

Jonathan Cristini with a breakaway goal for the Mustangs and they once again have a two-goal lead early in the second period.  But Leimbrock gets a takeaway right between the circles and blasts his second goal of the night past Relkoff with a slapper.  Morrisville still leads 4-3.

ELSEWHERE: Plattsburgh leads Brockport 2-0 in the second period at the Stafford Ice Arena in the other SUNYAC semifinal.

UPDATE: The hat trick for Leimbrock!  Quite the performance for a freshman in his first collegiate playoff game.  The game is now tied at 4-4 with less than a minute remaining in the second period.  Meanwhile, Plattsburgh leads Brockport 2-1 after two.

3RD PERIOD

UPDATE:  I've fallen a bit behind.  Neil Musselwhite scored on a shorthanded breakaway (yawn) to start the third and Jon Whitelaw just took the puck away from Relkoff and scored on a backhander to give the Lakers their largest lead on the night at 6-4.

UPDATE:  Eric Selleck just scored his first goal of the night off a feed from Justin Fox.  That marks the Lakers' first power play goal tonight.  They lead 7-4.  Plattsburgh beat Brockport 5-2.  Oswego is less than five minutes away from meeting Plattsburgh in the SUNYAC final for the third straight season.

UPDATE:  Tom Longland beats Beckwith to cut the lead to 7-5.

UPDATE: Kevin Huinink lights the lamp on a shothanded empty-netter with a minute left.

Oswego wins 8-5.

Oswego State Men's Hockey Captures Multiple Conference Awards

From Oswego State Athletics:

The State University of New York Athletic Conference released its 2009-10 Post-Season Men’s Ice Hockey awards on Wednesday and Oswego State garnered the majority of the awards.

Sophomore forward Eric Selleck was named the Herb Hammond Most Valuable Player, freshman forward Jon Whitelaw was named Rookie of the Year, and Ed Gosek was selected as the Coach of the Year. Three players received First Team All-Conference recognition including junior forward Chris Laganiere, junior defenseman Stephen Mallaro, and Selleck, while senior forward Neil Musselwhite was named to the Second Team.

In addition, senior defenseman Tyler Lyon and senior goaltender Kyle Gunn-Taylor received honorable mention All-Conference honors.  After finishing the SUNYAC regular season with a record of 15-1-0, the Lakers, who are 23-2-0 overall, earned the top seed in the conference post-season tournament.


Eric Selleck, a native of Spencerville, Ontario, led the league in the majority of offensive categories including points (39), assists (25), goals (14), power play points (14).  He was tied for the league-lead in goals scored at 14.  Last year’s SUNYAC Rookie of the Year was named SUNYAC Player of the Week on November 9 and December 14.  Selleck is the second player in conference history to receive both SUNYAC MVP and Rookie of the Year honors following Oswego State’s Ryan Ellis and is the first to accomplish this in consecutive seasons. 

Chris Laganiere, an Owego, N.Y. native, led the conference with four game-winning goals and ranked second in the conference at 30 points.  He tied Selleck for a league-best 14 goals and was tied for first in power play goals at six.  Laganiere also ranked second in power play points at 11 and fourth in assists at 16.

Stephen Mallaro, a defenseman from Syracuse, N.Y., was fourth among conference defensemen in scoring with 11 points on four goals and seven assists.  He also posted three game-winning goals for Oswego State. 


Assistant captain Neil Musselwhite led the conference with four short-handed goals and was tied for third in the league with 11 goals.  The Burlington, Ontario native was selected as the SUNYAC Player of the Week on December 7 and January 11.  He became the ninth player in NCAA history to tally a short-handed natural hat trick on December 4 against Brockport. 

Jon Whitelaw, a forward from Hunstville, Ontario, led all league rookies with 22 points on eight goals and 14 assists and was fourth among all players with nine power play points.  Whitelaw was named the SUNYAC Player of the Week on February 1 and was a three-time SUNYAC Rookie of the Week selection.  He is the ninth Laker to be selected as Rookie of the Year and the seventh since the 2000-01 season. 

Captain Tyler Lyon, who hails from Foxboro, Ontario, anchored a defense that allowed the fewest goals in the league at 1.75 goals per game, and helped set up the offense for the top-scoring squad in the SUNYAC at 5.44 goals per game.  Lyon, who started all 16 conference games this season, was also a key figure in the Laker penalty kill.

Kyle Gunn-Taylor, an honorable mention selection, registered a conference record of 11-1-0 and posted a 1.69 goals against average, which was second among SUNYAC goalies, and a .927 save percentage.  The West Seneca, N.Y. native was also chosen as the SUNYAC Goaltender of the Week three times during the season.

Head Coach Ed Gosek was chosen as the SUNYAC Coach of the Year for the second time in his seven-year tenure. Gosek led Oswego State to its first No. 1 seed in the SUNYAC Post-Season Tournament since 2003 despite 15 newcomers on the team.  His squad finished the season atop every conference team statistical category including scoring offense (5.44 goals per game), scoring defense (1.75 goals per game), power play efficiency (28.1 percent), and penalty kill (86.8 percent).  Gosek was named Coach of the Year for the 2004-05 season.

The Lakers start post-season play on Saturday when they face Morrisville at 7 p.m. in the semifinal round of the SUNYAC Playoffs.  Tickets may be purchased by calling the Campus Center Box Office at 315-312-3073 from 10 a.m.-6 p.m.

Photo - Jared Crast / Facebook

Make Way For The Ponies, Morrisville Hockey Advances To SUNYAC Semis

Most fans--hell, even some players on other programs within the conference--weren't aware of the Morrisville hockey program's postseason eligibility until after New Year's. But tonight the Mustangs showed they're not only eligible, but a Cinderella of sorts with a shocking 3-2 victory at third-seeded Fredonia in the play-in round of the 2010 SUNYAC postseason tournament.

Get this widget |      Track details  |         eSnips Social DNA

Junior forward Nick Kulas buried a goal past sophomore netminder Kody Van Rentergem in the fifth minute of overtime to give Morrisville the victory in their first postseason game since jumping to the NCAA from the junior college ranks in 2007.

The victory comes just four nights after the Mustangs suffered an embarassing 7-1 defeat to this same Fredonia club at the same Steele Hall Ice Arena.  It also serves as a giant leap forward for a program that endured back-to-back five win seasons in the two seasons leading up to this one.and moves them into Saturday's semifinal where they will visit top-seeded Oswego State at 7 p.m.

Live Audio: Morrisville Hockey Forces OT In SUNYAC Playoff Debut

Syracuse Football, 91st-Ranked Rushing Attack In '09, Hires Running Backs Coach From 92nd-Ranked Team

Doug Marrone has tabbed a former Rose Bowl MVP to head up the Syracuse running attack.

Tyrone Wheatley--once a Heisman Trophy hopeful during his days in the Michigan Wolverines backfield--was named the new running backs coach of the Orange on Wednesday.  He joins the program after holding the same position with Eastern Michigan for the 2009 season.

The former first-round pick of the New York Giants guided a rushing attack at Eastern Michigan that posted numbers comparable to that of the 2009 backfield at Syracuse. While the Orange ranked 91st in the nation last season, the Eagles were right on their heels at 92nd.  Each team ran the ball exactly 421 times last year with Syracuse out-gaining Eastern Michigan by just four yards.

The announcement of Wheatley's hire came just a day after the abrupt resignation of Roger Harriott, a former running back at Villanova who was temporarily lured away from coaching a high school program he had started in Florida.

Harriott was hired by Marrone on Jan. 27 to replace Stan Drayton, who accepted the same position on Urban Meyer's staff at Florida following the 2009 season.  But Harriott changed his mind on Monday thus allowing the Orange to bring in Wheatley.