PINE VALLEY, N.Y. – The Elmira College Men’s Ice Hockey team cruised to a home victory on Saturday evening at the Murray Athletic Center to open up its home slate against #11 nationally-ranked Oswego State, 7-3. The Lakers, who came into Saturday after defeating the #1 ranked Statesmen from Hobart College on Friday, were unable to find an answer for a high-tempo Soaring Eagle offense, which produced seven goals on just 27 shots for the evening.
JUST THE BASICS:
SCORE: Elmira 7, #11 Oswego State 3
LOCATION: Pine Valley, N.Y. | Murray Athletic Center
TEAM RECORDS: Elmira (2-0-0, 0-0-0 NEHC), Oswego State (1-1-0, 0-0-0 SUNYAC)
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- For the second consecutive evening to start the season, the Soaring Eagles would get out to a quick start, as Cole Tucker ’26 notched his first goal of the season at the 2:53 mark on an assist from Tyler Schwindt ’26. From there, less than two minutes later, it would be Elmira yet again to score as Jared Smith ’24 scored on an assist from Ryan Reifler ’24 up the middle of the ice after Reifler dumped the puck in from up against the penalty box boards.
- From there, the Lakers would get its first tally of the evening as Shane Bull picked up his third point of the season on an assist from Connor Sleeth to trim the EC advantage to 2-1.
- From there, Elmira would increase its lead to three as Nathan Young ’25 scored from Shane Haviland ’24 (10:02), before Janis Vizbelis ’24 scored on an assist from Nicholas Domitrovic ’24 (18:38). In the first period, the Soaring Eagles would produce just four shots, all of which went for goals.
- To open the second, the Lakers would make a switch at the netminder position and answer back almost immediately with a score from Ryan Dickinson just 54 seconds into the frame.
- Just two minutes later, it would be Elmira who extended its lead to 5-2 as Domitrovic would join the scoring surge for the Soaring Eagles, assisted by Amedeo Mastrangeli ’24.
- The period would go quiet for a period of time before Shawn Kennedy ’24 scored his first of the season on an assist from Jordan Gonzalez ’24 at the 15:44 mark in the frame. The goal would extend Elmira’s lead to four, its largest of the evening to that point.
- For the first six minutes of the third period, the game would remain 6-2 in favor of the Soaring Eagles before Vizbelis scored on assists from Mastrangeli and Daniel Dimon ’24 to extend the EC lead to 7-2.
- The Lakers would add a later goal with 2:20 remaining in regulation as Thomas Rocco found the back of the net past Soaring Eagle netminder Kyle Curtin ’26.
- Curtin would finish the contest with 24 saves in net for the Soaring Eagles, while the Oswego State duo of Cal Schell and Richie Parent finished with 15.
UP NEXT:
The Purple & Gold return to the ice on Friday, November 4 when taking on the Pilgrims from New England College at 7:00 PM.
