The University of Rhode Island men’s club hockey team split its opening weekend against Oswego State University on Friday and Saturday.
Coming into the game, Rhode Island had only learned who was on its full roster Sept. 21, leaving just days to prepare for the opening match.
“The guys don’t even really know each other yet,” URI men’s club hockey coach Joe Augustine said. “We just picked our team on Monday.”
Rhode Island started strong on Friday, scoring its first goal of the season from first-year forward Evan Wohlstetter to take the early lead.
Oswego State answered right back with a goal of its own from first-year forward Luke Marchant to tie the game.
As the first period was winding down, second-year forward James Clifford found the back of the net to put the Lakers up 2-1 at the break.
In period two, third-year defenseman Jacob Costa struck back for the Rams, knotting the score at 2-2.
The back-and-forth battle continued as second-year forward John Manzi put Oswego State back in the lead.
Nearing the end of the second period, first-year forward Colin Callaghan got the puck past the Lakers goalie to tie the game for the third time.
Entering the third period in a closely contested matchup, second-year forward Charlie Nelson gave Rhode Island its first lead since the first period.
The Lakers were not able to find the net in the final frame, and third-year defenseman Carson Ricci was able to bounce the puck past an Oswego State defender and into the empty net to make it 5-3 and give Rhode Island a win to start off its season.
In Saturday’s matchup, the Lakers did not take kindly to the loss as they scored first on a goal from third-year forward Alex Ceselka to go up 1-0.
A Rhode Island mistake set up Oswego State for their second penalty shot of the weekend, which second-year forward Ashton Delmonico scored on from a backhand past second-year goalie Nathan Hanisko to make it 2-0 Lakers.
“Those resulted in poor positioning and mental errors,” Augustine said. “It’s just the little things; there’s no excuse for those.”
The Rams came rumbling back in the second period on a goal by third-year forward Owen Hall to cut the lead in half.
Just over a minute later, fourth-year forward Chase Gaudioso followed up Hall with a game-tying goal to make it 2-2.
The Lakers spoiled the momentum swing by Rhode Island with a late-period goal from fourth-year forward Brayden Palfi to put Oswego State back in front.
Rhode Island was not able to capitalize on any of its chances in the third period, and fifth-year captain Jeremy Keyes sealed the game with an empty-netter, giving the Lakers the last laugh.
“They are good; they’ve always had a good team,” Augustine said. “I didn’t expect anything less than them coming out even harder than they did on Friday.”
