CORTLAND, N.Y. – With the 2017-18 ice hockey season officially underway the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) decided to highlight Oswego's national championship in 2006-07 as this week's throwback Thursday feature.
Going 18-6-2 during the regular season the Lakers were the two seed in the SUNYAC championship tournament and had their eyes locked on receiving a bid to the national tournament. However, fifth-seeded Fredonia upset Oswego, 4-3, in overtime of the semifinals. Fortunately, despite not winning the conference, they not only earned an at large bid to the national tournament but also received a first round bye.
Oswego was set to face off against Norwich in the national quarterfinals, and shut them out, 3-0, advancing to the semifinals. Their next game against St. Norbert was completely different than their game versus Norwich. The back and forth battle saw the Lakers tie the game in the third period and eventually get the victory, 4-3, in overtime.
The championship game was against Middlebury, who ironically knocked out Fredonia, 9-0, in the opening round. The game was almost a direct repeat of their previous one except with Middlebury coming back and scoring to tie the game, 3-3, in the third period eventually sending the game into overtime. With less than ten minutes remaining in the extra period Oswego cleared the puck out of their zone, junior Garren Reisweber (Williamsville, NY), moved it up the ice and rushed past a defender, leaving him with just the goalie to beat. Reisweber did just that when deked a poke attempt from the Middlebury net minder, Ross Cherry (Basking Ridge, NJ) and scored the game-winning goal to bring the Lakers their first and only national championship title in program history.
