FREDONIA, N.Y. – Fredonia State will be the underdog Saturday when it visits Oswego for a SUNYAC men's hockey semifinal game.
Not only will the Blue Devils (13-12-1) be facing the top seed in the SUNYAC Tournament, but the No. 1 team in NCAA Division III. The Lakers (22-3-0) have been atop the USCHO.com rankings since Jan. 10 and received 18 of 20 first-place votes this week.
Oswego will be playing for the first time since the end of the regular season. The Lakers, by virtue of their No. 1 seed, advanced straight to the semifinals in the six-team SUNYAC bracket. The No. 2 seed Geneseo Ice Knights also received a first-round bye. The Ice Knights will play host to the No. 4 seed Plattsburgh Cardinals in Saturday's other semifinal.
Both semifinal games start at 7 p.m., with the winners advancing to the SUNYAC championship game March 5 on the home ice of the higher seed.
"Oswego is the defending conference champion," Blue Devil head coach Jeff Meredith said, "and currently ranked No. 1 in the NCAA poll, but when you really come right down to it, it is just a 60-minute hockey game between two teams who will work hard and play tough."
Fredonia State holds a 5-4-1 edge in post-season games vs. Oswego. The most recent post-season meeting between the teams was a 2008 semifinal, won by the Lakers, 4-1, at Oswego. Prior to that, the Blue Devils were 3-2 overtime winners at Oswego in a 2007 semifinal.
Oswego won both regular-season games with the Blue Devils this year – 3-0 on Oct. 30 at Oswego, and 5-4 in the rematch Jan. 22 at Steele Hall. The Lakers won the second game in overtime after the Blue Devils rallied from 4-0 down. The Lakers have won the last eight meetings overall and lead the all-time series, 30-23-4.
The Blue Devils advanced to the semifinal round with a 3-2 first-round win Wednesday at Buffalo State despite playing without senior forward Jordan Oye. Named the Herb Hammond Award winner Thursday as SUNYAC's most valuable player, Oye will return to the lineup against the Lakers.
"I think momentum is important for us in carrying over from the game at Buffalo State," Meredith said. "A few things happened during that game that were important for us. One was that right after both of Buff State goals, we answered with a goal of our own. The other was the fact that we played the third period with a one-goal lead and brought it home."
In the Buffalo State game, sophomore Ben Waldman became the sixth Blue Devil to record a hattrick in a post-season game. Jeff Lupu accomplished the feat three times, and Mark Jarmusz and Eric Preston did it once each. Here's a look at each:
| Player |
Date |
Opponent |
Outcome |
| Mark Jarmusz |
2/28/1992 |
at Oswego |
7-3, W |
| Jeff Lupu |
3/4/1994 |
Plattsburgh |
6-5, W |
| Jeff Lupu |
3/19/1994 |
Salem State (*) |
7-4, W |
| Eric Preston |
2/24/1995 |
Oswego |
6-4, W |
| Jeff Lupu |
2/25/1995 |
Oswego |
5-3, W |
| Ben Waldman |
2/23/2011 |
at Buffalo State |
3-2, W |
(*) NCAA Tournament game at Superior, Wis.
