Coach Ed Gosek says it wasn’t pretty.

Coming off a loss in the Division III National Championship game, Gosek’s team had graduated 14 seniors. Only three players were back that had played in that championship loss.

The Lakers were now a team with a foundation of 19 freshmen and five transfers.  The season opened with an overtime loss at home.

“We were not very good,” Gosek said. “But it’s a process. You stick with it.”

The Lakers kept working. Slowly, the team grew together and began finding its potential.  Oswego State lost two of its first five and lost or tied four of its first 10.

Then came five straight wins and a 10-game unbeaten streak. It wasn’t until after Christmas that the team began hitting on the right line combinations and defense pairings. The goaltender situation began to solidify as freshman Matt Zawadzki established himself in net.

Then came a rash of injuries. Half of the defensive core went down. Three of the team’s top four scorers were out of the lineup.  The Lakers lost two games in January and back-to-back losses came in February. But the Lakers haven’t lost since.

They have won seven in a row, including the Oswego Class Championship, the SUNYAC quarterfinal, semifinal and championship, an NCAA Division III play-in against Bowdoin, and a quarterfinal against Babson.

“They did it the right way,” Gosek said. “Believe me, we weren’t very good early on. There were growing pains. There were bumps in the road. There was a lot of adversity.”