By DailyNews.com hockey columnist Bill Foley

Seven wins, two losses, and a tie is an outstanding hockey record after 10 games, but the team chalking up those numbers is probably the team being seen by the least amount of fans.

The Oswego High School girls’ hockey team is off to a quick start and has a bit of braggin’ rights over the guys. Recently, Dan Bartlett’s squad won two exciting games, but then lost one of those games that no coach likes to lose. Oswego scored a win over Saranac Lake last Thursday night, rallied and won over then unbeaten Potsdam with a goal with just three ticks left in overtime and then squared off at 10 a.m. the following morning and lost to Lake Placid. The Placid squad is much improved and definitely in the right place at the right time.

However, it would be nice if more fans would get out to watch the girls. The squad is hampered by a brutal travel schedule and was supposed to see it play in Canton on a school night (Wednesday), but the high winds left much of the north country powerless and thus the Bucs will have to reschedule.

This year the league consists of the always powerful Salmon River, Potsdam, Canton, Massena, Lake Placid, Saranac Lake, Skaneateles, Ithaca, and Oswego.

Next Monday night at 6 p.m. the Oswego High School girls will be having senior night at the SUNY Oswego Campus Center when Skaneateles visits. The girls game might not be as fast as the guys, but watch it for what it is… a hockey game.

Get out and support the squad on Monday night. These girls deserve the credit for their accomplishments.

There could be further home games as the Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 9-10, championship tournament will be played at the Campus Center. Currently, the Bucs are battling Potsdam for second place, but it won’t be easy.

You Might Not Have Known Him

Years ago when I was sports editor at The Palladium Times, Oswego Sports Information Director Ross Aldrich was a regular visitor to my office (as I was to his).

After he was on hand for a college game on Friday night he would make the morning trek downtown to pen an article about a Laker team while I did the high school and other local sports stories.

We were buddies. We rode the hockey bus together as I did radio broadcasts. Former Laker Glenn Sisman remembered, “Ross used to use public telephones to call our games in for coverage. While we sat on a warm bus he would be out in the cold along the side of the highway reporting about our games.”

Ross left Oswego in the early 1980’s. I lost contact with him, but never forgot the assistance he provided me. I felt he was my mentor (even though I don’t know if he knew that). He was a heck of a coach and a tremendous SID.

Early this week I received an email and was informed that Ross Aldrich died last May. I stopped for a few moments, reflected and remembered his smile, positive attitude and the professionalism as well as class he always displayed.

Some think it was Ross who coined the “Great Lakers” phrase. It just might have been. He was a fan and a friend.

I wish I hadn’t lost contact with him after he went to Ithaca College to serve as their athletic equipment manager. How many times in life do we wish we had some time with someone we should have kept in contact with.

Hockey This Weekend

Two home games dot the SUNY Oswego Campus Center this weekend. Friday night it will be the college club team in action and on Saturday “Blue Blizzard” night is on tap for the OHS boys’ hockey team against second place Ithaca.

Ending their winter break two weeks early, the Oswego State Men’s Club Hockey Team returned to campus recently to prepare for the second half of the 2007-08 hockey season. The Lakers, who finished the first semester with a record of 12-4 and a No. 1 ranking in the NECHL, have a tough schedule during January and February. Oswego will host nationally ranked Robert Morris Friday, Jan. 11 at 7 p.m. at the Campus Center Rink and on Saturday, Jan. 12 Oswego travels to RIT.

The Lakers will host the NECHL Championships Feb. 22-24 at the Campus Center Rink.

Meanwhile, the Oswego High School boys’ hockey team got out of the gate quickly, but hit some tough times recently. The squad lost to state ranked Lancaster and Suffern in the high quality Buc Booster Holiday Hockey Tournament. However, league losses to Cicero-North Syracuse and West Genesee were tough and then the squad battled for a 4-4 deadlock with rival Liverpool earlier this week.

Soph Matt Howard came into the game with a 2-0 deficit just four minutes in, but made 46 saves as the Bucs rallied for the tie. The Ithaca game could have a crucial bearing on post season ambitions.

Lakers Set for Return to League Action

The Oswego State men’s hockey team is 10-4-2 and the record is respectable as the squad gets ready for the final round of SUNYAC action.

After hosting Morrisville in a non-league game on Jan. 22 Oswego will head to Plattsburgh and Potsdam the following night. The Lakers are currently attempting to remain in second place with a loss and tie in the first half of the season (actually a little more than half because they’ve played Morrisville in two league games).

Some fans have apparently jumped ship and are skipping Laker home games because the team lost four games. Okay so they lost and tied unbeaten Elmira who is the second team in the nation. Plattsburgh, ranked third in the nation, has the most wins with 15-2 record and scored a victory over No. 10 Norwich earlier this week. The Lakers fell to ninth ranked Hobart. Amherst might have surprised some folks, but the Lord Jeffs are currently third in NESCAC.

New England College and Oswego had a heck of a game last weekend at the Campus Center. The Pilgrims came in unbeaten and certainly didn’t like playing from behind in one of the more physical games of the year. By the way NEC currently is tied with Babson for the ECAC East lead.
Oswego also gained a win over Curry during the tournament and the Colonels lead the ECAC Northeast standings.

So much for some folks saying the Lakers have a cushy schedule. The first place teams in ECAC East, ECAC Northeast, SUNYAC, and ECAC West are on this year’s agenda.

Now is time to focus on league play as a top two spot will get the Lakers home in the semifinal. However, I am wondering if the squad might be a better road team. Time will tell as the second semester has road games in the Cardinals’ nest and Bear den before coming home the first weekend of February for a Friday and Saturday match up with Geneseo and Brockport. The final three road games will be at Buffalo State, Fredonia, and Cortland.

Mark Down This Date

Hey, get out to the Feb. 2 game at the SUNY Campus Center.

It will be senior night and this group of seniors, though small in number, deserve a rousing send off for their major contributions to the program.

It will be the final regular season home game for goalie Ryan Scott, forwards Tony DiNunzio and C.J. Thompson along with “Wolfie” Matt Wolf will be saying “so long.”

Be there to thank the trio.

Women Lakers Back in Action

The second semester will be critical to the post season hopes for the women’s team. The Lakers split at the Codfish Bowl Tournament last weekend losing to Trinity and defeating Cortland.
During the first semester the team went 0-6 in league play losing to RIT, Plattsburgh and Neumann. Six teams make the ECAC West playoffs and the Lakers will have Chatham and Buffalo State at home along with two games with Utica. The Lakers have road two game sets with Elmira and Cortland.

This weekend the team is at St. Olaf on Saturday and Sunday and at St. Benedict next Tuesday.

Ice Scraps: Central Square won its first hockey game in the history of the program with a win over Utica Proctor, but early this week the Red Hawks earned what I consider the upset of the year with a 2-1 win over Christian Brothers Academy. Have to love high school sports as there are always surprises…The Laker club team welcomes back defenseman Chris Thompson who was unable to play during the first half of the season due to academic commitments..Check out the Daily News professional hockey blog as it is updated on a regular basis to keep track of Central New York professionals including Erik Cole, Robbie Schremp, and T.J. Fox…Clarkson continues to lead the ECAC Division I standings and is among the top 10 in the nation…The Syracuse Crunch have been nearing the five hundred plateau, but they just can’t seem to get over it. However, the Crunch schedule has been nightmarish with road game after road game. The Crunch are home on a regular basis during the second half of the season. The Albany River Rats will be in on Sunday for a 4 p.m. face off. Next Wednesday Philly is in and then on the 19th, another Saturday, Lake Erie is in…As an old timer I enjoyed the NHL Winter Classic (Cold Bowl), but it is something that shouldn’t be held on a regular basis. Once every few years would suffice. I don’t think this game attracted any new fans. It was too long due to repairs and clearing snow from ice. Hey, if I was an NHL marketing genius I would have scripted the game to have Crosby win it in a shoot out. We know it wasn’t rigged as Buffalo couldn’t put the puck in Lake Erie that day. Several local hockey fans were on their feet in Ralph Wilson Stadium as apparently no one used a seat (must have been NASCAR fans).

Well, that’s about enough space to fill on the world wide web for this time around. I really enjoy hearing from fans. Give me a shout at foley395@hotmail.com.

NOTE: The Oswego varsity girls hockey game is at 6 p.m., not 7 p.m. as originally stated. The seniors will be honored prior to face-off.

- Submitted by DailyNews.com hockey columnist Bill Foley

There are separate worlds in local hockey action as the high school season is about to begin and the college campaign is near the semester break.

This Friday afternoon at the Onondaga County War Memorial the Oswego High School Buccaneers launch the new season in a non-league affair against LaSalle. This was supposed to be a home game for Oswego. However, the War Memorial is attempting to get several high school games in the building. There appears to be hopes that the players and fans will stay around for the Crunch game later that night.

Face off is expected about 3 p.m. and if fan only attend the scholastic affair there is no charge. However, there is a discount rate for the twinbill.

There are many new faces on the Bucs roster this year and after last year where six ties were in the “T” column OHS is hoping to turn some of those into “W’s.” The home opener is next Tuesday, Dec. 4 at the Oswego State Campus Center at 7 p.m. against Division I league foe Fayetteville-Manlius.

It’s great to see the Bucs back in the Saratoga Tournament against Shenendehowa and St. Joe’s while the holiday tournament right here in the Port City sees Oswego playing Lancaster and Canton battling Suffern in the first round on Dec. 28.

Hockey fans can also hit the Oswego High School girls’ next Thursday night at 6 p.m. against Massena at the Fort rink.

Some OHS fans might stay in Syracuse to watch the Crunch and Wilkes-Barre, however the Lakers are home on Friday and Saturday night as they try to get into a position to be all alone in second place in SUNYAC by the end of the semester.

Buffalo State provides the opposition on Friday night and Fredonia, who stunned the Lakers in the SUNY semifinal a year ago, skates in on Saturday.

The Lakers are off to what many local fans seem to think is a disappointing start. However, they have lost to good teams. Entering this week River Falls at 5-0-3 was ranked number one in the nation. River Falls lost the 5-0 to St. Thomas the night this week’s poll came out so count them out.

Many critics throughout college hockey criticized the Laker schedule. Coach Ed Gosek simply can’t get teams to play the Lakers (thus the extra non-league game with Morrisville). You have to play who you can play and beat who you play.

I think the strength of schedule argument might as well be tossed into the local Great Lake. Unbeaten Hobart is second in the nation followed by 9-1 Plattsburgh and 5-0-1 Elmira. Teams Oswego lost to are second, third and fourth in the nation.

Right now it appears that there are plenty of good hockey teams in Division III. The key is and always has been to win your league tournament and get a shot to post season play.
Plattsburgh appears to have a great chance to go into the semester break with a 9-0 record while the best Oswego can do would be 8-1 as they are 4-1 in league with Morrisville in next Friday night and the Lakers close out December a week from Saturday at Morrisville.
Currently, have played seven games apiece while the Lakers have played just five. All three have eight points.

Oswego needs to get a streak going and hopefully be in second at the halfway point.

USCHO.com Division III Men’s Poll

November 26, 2007
Team (First Place Votes) Record Points Last Poll
1 Wis.-River Falls ( 9) 5-0-3 275 1
2 Hobart ( 3) 8-0-0 270 3
3 Plattsburgh ( 4) 9-1-0 260 7
4 Elmira ( 4) 5-0-1 246 4
5 St. Norbert 6-1-0 221 5
6 Manhattanville 6-1-1 194 6
7 Middlebury 2-1-1 166 2
8 Wis.-Stout 8-1-1 165 8
9 Babson 4-0-1 147 9
10 St. Thomas 5-1-1 117 10
11 Norwich 2-2-0 96 11
12 Oswego 4-3-1 61 12
13 Wis.-Superior 4-1-4 45 14
14 Bowdoin 2-1-0 41 15
14 Southern Maine 4-0-0 41 NR
Others Receiving Votes: Mass.-Dartmouth 20, New England College 10, Adrian 7, Wis.-Stevens Point 7, Bethel 4, Curry 4, Milw School of Eng 1, St. Olaf 1, Utica 1

Meanwhile, the Oswego State women’s hockey team is off to its second season and this is the road trip year. Many “pay back” games for the numerous home contests last year.

Oswego is home for just nine games this year and won’t play at the Campus Center again this semester.

Thus far the Lakers have tied Cortland at home and lost to national champion Plattsburgh on Campus Center ice.

The squad is in tournament action during the next month and a half will be at the Codfish Bowl in Boston with Trinity, Cortland and UMass-Boston and will also travel out to Minnesota for a three game set with two against St. Olaf and another with St. Benedict.

Many new faces on the Lakers roster this year and this will be a team to be reckoned with in the future.

This weekend the squad heads to Neumann. The squad returns home on January 19-20 to meet Chatham.

Some teams have a nice home opener to chalk up a “W” and get the fans excited. Well, the Oswego State women were home last Friday and Saturday and faced off against the defending NCAA Division IIII Plattsburgh Cardinals.

There’s one thing I can say about seeing the Plattsburgh women’s hocke team “Wow!” Plattsburgh is the best women’s hockey team I’ve ever seen and this squad did everything right. They won the battles along the boards, were more fleet afoot, and really showed an excellence of specialty teams not only scoring when up a player, but tallied several short handed goals in the two game set.

Plattsburgh continues to be the favorite in ECAC West and for good reason. This was one heck of a hockey team. It provided the Oswego State women, including many of the new players, to see where it has to go.

Six teams will go to the playoffs this year in ECAC West and the Lakers will be battling Cortland and Buffalo State for one of the berths. This is a formidable league with Plattsburgh, Elmira, RIT, Neuman, Utica College along with Chatham.

What About That Club Team

A couple of weeks ago the Oswego State men’s club team earned recognition in ACHA Division I as they received votes, but missed out of ranking among the top twenty-five in the nation.

This squad, packed with several local players, has been playing solid hockey. The team is first in its league and is 12-3-0 overall with one game (at Binghamton this Saturday) left in the semester.

NECHL 2007- 08 Regular Season Standings
GP W L T SOL OTL GF GA PTS
(M1) Oswego State University 15 12 3 0 0 0 83 41 24
(M1) Rutgers University 14 11 2 0 0 1 74 43 23
(M1) Pennsylvania State University - Berks 13 8 5 0 0 0 55 53 16
(M1) Ithaca College 13 5 7 0 1 0 54 63 11
(M1) Binghamton University 11 3 7 0 0 1 32 45 7
(M1) Cortland, State University of New York College at 9 3 6 0 0 0 32 49 6
(M1) St. Bonaventure University 9 2 7 0 0 0 19 55 4

Ice Scraps-Recently Oswego goalie Ryan Scott set a career record for shutouts in the win at Geneseo. It was the seventh of his career…Hard to believe, but the Plattsburgh women’s hockey team lost last weekend to Manhattanville. It snapped a 36 game winning streak…. Fulton high is off to a quick start, but lost an 8-7 offensive show to Watertown IHC the other night. The Raiders have lost two league games. Fulton hosts Solvay at 5 p.m. on Friday in tournament action and at 7:30 p.m. it will be Batavia Notre Dame against F-M…Friday night and Saturday afternoon Central Square will host a tournament with IHC, Utica Proctor and Westmoreland at Lysander…The Oswego State men’s club team will host the three day NECHL League Championship Tournament will be at SUNY Oswego in February…Watching Erik Cole down on the ice earlier this week was scary. Local fans were trying to keep updated on his status. According to the Miami paper the Panther goalie noted Cole kept shouting , “My Neck, My Neck” and there had to be more than a bit of concern from Carolina fans as he suffered a serious injury just a couple of years ago. Glad to see he was released from the hospital and flew with the team to Tampa where he was a scratch for the game against Tampa Bay. Recently he was reactivated by the Hurricanes …Okay the Lakers are 0-2 in White Out games. We killed the bagel tossing. Maybe it’s time to erase white out. I always get the feeling that the Oswego-Plattsburgh game is bigger for Laker fans than it is for Plattsburgh. The Cardinals play nearby Middlebury and Norwich which are key games. The Cards come to Oswego and simply play their game. The bad news for Oswego is that it appears Plattsburgh has found a goalie. The Cards are off to the type of start Oswego had last year. Last weekend the Cards won the Primelink Tournament defeating St. John’s and stomping Norwich …The USCHO rankings will change quite a bit this weekend…The Syracuse Crunch are off to a slow start and just lost their leading scorer who suffered a broken jaw in practice…High school surprises this week have Whitesboro 3-2 over Ithaca and OBay over Solvay 6-5. ..Keep your eye on the Section III site at http://www.hometeamsonline.com/visit/?u=CBAHOCKEYSYR&sport=hockey&t=c
as thus 204,000 fans have found this site. It is being updated regularly with scores, standings and stats…. Send along comments and notes as I enjoy hearing the thoughts of local fans to foley395@hotmail.com

This is going to be the new home of “Ice Shaving’s” a blog written by Bill Foley.

Oswego Harborfest has announced that the popular 50-50 Raffle to benefit Harborfest will return in 2009.

Farnham Family Services, an Oswego-based substance abuse treatment and prevention center, is now selling tickets for its 2009 Changing Lives Raffle.

As this column goes to press the 152nd Oswego County Fair should be in full swing at Sandy Creek. During the previous week the Heritage building was stocked full with many new and unique exhibits. We even brought down a piano for some live music!