Leaving it all on the ice
After coming to a close over this past weekend, the 2025-26 SUNYAC men's ice hockey season marked a new chapter in its history. Two new - and very much non-SUNY - teams entered SUNYAC play for hockey: the Hobart Statesmen - three-time defending national champs, mind you - and the Skidmore Thoroughbreds. Both made an immediate impact on the season, and of course, also had an impact on the Oswego State Lakers' quest to repeat as SUNYAC champions, after they beat Plattsburgh in last year's title bout.
Skidmore, for one, is a talented bunch that saw seven of its games this season go into overtime, and won four of them, including a victory at Curry College, which was at the time the #8 team in the country. They went on to finish third in the SUNYAC thanks to a tiebreaker over Cortland, and after knocking off Plattsburgh in the SUNYAC quarterfinals, their season came to an end just a few days later in Oswego, where the Lakers scored three early on and kept the Thoroughbreds at arm's length the rest of the way. Skidmore ends the season at 15-10-2 overall, and 11-6-1 in SUNYAC play.
Oswego's semifinal win set up the game that the Lakers probably knew was coming when the puck dropped on the first game of their season at Geneseo: Oswego vs. Hobart for the SUNYAC championship.
Oswego vs. a team that has been ranked #1 in the country for years. A team that has been the unanimous #1 all season long. A team that hasn't lost a game since early 2025, having gone 27-0 this season entering Saturday's title game.
A team with the following national stats:
#1 offense (5.39 GPG)
#1 defense (0.89 GAPG)
#1 in shots per game (46.82)
#1 in shots allowed per game (18.86)
#1 on the power play (34.55%)
So dominant is Hobart that, in one of our recent podcasts, WNYO play-by-play guy Derik Clark promised to shave his head if Hobart fails to capture its fourth straight national title. (Hey, I need to make sure Derik remembers saying that, ha ha…)
But after all that, the games still have to be played. Oswego vs. Hobart in a conference championship game that Oswego needed to win to make the NCAA tourney, while Hobart could have forefeited the game and still earn the top seed in the NCAAs.
Oswego fought incredibly hard, keeping pace with the Statesmen for most of the contest. It was 1-0 Hobart after two periods of play. Unfortunately for the Lakers, Hobart tallied three more in the third, including an empty-netter, to defeat Oswego 4-0. Trailing 3-0, Oswego had a chance to make it interesting with a five-minute man advantage, thanks to a major penalty called on Hobart about midway through the third, but the nation's #3 power play couldn't break through, and momentum shifted back to Hobart from there on out.
After routinely outshooting opponents by almost 30 shots per night, the final tally was 38-30 in favor of the victors. It was a tough loss for the Lakers, but ultimately it was a game where they absolutely left everything out on the ice.
The Statesmen, now at 28-0 (18-0 SUNYAC), with five straight shutouts and counting, head into the national tourney as the top seed, while Oswego's season is over with a record of 19-7-2 overall and 14-4 in conference after failing to make the NCAA DIII bracket. We tip our cap to the team and its head coach, Ed Gosek, for another excellent season, and look forward to the 2026-27 campaign. And, perhaps, yet another clash with Hobart for the conference title.
Go Lakers!