FREDONIA, N.Y. – Fredonia State ended the first semester trying to find its men's hockey identity.
The Blue Devils had a 2-6-2 record when they headed home for holiday break. One of those two wins came over Oswego on opening night last Nov. 1.
The rematch 7 p.m. Friday at Steele Hall finds the Blue Devils on a three-game winning streak and the Lakers ranked No. 11 in NCAA Division III by USCHO.com.
"Our goal upon our return (in January)," Blue Devil head coach
Jeff Meredith said, "was to refine the game we need to play, and in doing so, generate some momentum heading into the SUNYAC stretch run."
That stretch run starts this weekend with the first two of nine straight conference games to close out the regular season. Cortland visits Steele Hall on Saturday night, also at 7 o'clock.
The Blue Devils are 3-0-1 in their last four games to improve to 5-8-3 overall. They are 2-3-2 in the conference and in sixth place, while Oswego – winners of four straight SUNYAC regular-season titles – are in fourth place at 4-2-1 in the conference (11-3-2 overall).
The Lakers, coached by Ed Gosek, started the season minus 14 graduation losses from last year's team. Still, their 3-2 overtime loss to the Blue Devils – on a goal by freshman
Hunter Long (Lebanon, Tenn.) – was viewed as an upset by most SUNYAC observers. The Lakers eventually got on track and were 8-0-2 over a 10-game stretch before losing 3-2 at Elmira last Saturday.
From Fredonia State's standpoint, there was no carry-over from its win at Oswego. They won only once more during the first semester while struggling to score goals. Recently, though, the offense has picked up. They have scored nine goals in the last two games, including a 5-4 win Tuesday over the same Elmira team which defeated the Lakers three days earlier.
"We have to carry that same type of game, same style, and same mentality over to our conference opponents," Meredith said. "I think we have answered some questions that we had earlier in the year and (while we) are still a work in progress, I like what I have seen so far. I think we have gotten much tougher mentally."
NOTES: An estimated 40 alumni and their families will be on hand Saturday when the 1993-94 Blue Devil team is recognized. That team went 20-1-4, finished third nationally, and won the first of three SUNYAC titles by the Blue Devils … an alumni game at 2 p.m. Saturday is part of the festivities … Oswego's Matt Galati is tied for second nationally with 15 goals and leads a power-play unit which is ranked No. 3 with a 30.38 percent success rate. Galati has seven power-play goals … Fredonia State's Jared Wynia (Calgary, Alberta) has six power-play goals, tied for seventh in NCAA Division III … Mitch Kaufmann (Red Deer, Alberta) and Chad Bennett (Burlington, Ont.) scored the other Blue Devil goals in the Nov. 1 game at Oswego.
