OSWEGO, N.Y. – The Southern New Hampshire University ice hockey team scored four times during the first two periods of play before holding off a late comeback attempt to defeat No. 4/5 Oswego State, 4-3, at the Marano Campus Center Arena on Sunday. The Penmen improve to 6-7-1 overall, while the Lakers fall to 10-2-2 on the year.

Southern New Hampshire broke through midway through the first period when junior Jim O'Connor (Arlington, Mass.) tallied his first of the season 8:56 into the contest. O'Connor collected a feed from classmate Anthony Laperriere (Winchendon, Mass.) in the slot and tucked a shot past the Oswego netminder.

After the Lakers knotted the score 7:54 later, the Penmen regained their one-goal advantage with five seconds to play in the opening frame. On the penalty kill, freshman Matt McLelland (Reading, Mass.) sprung classmate Timothy Baylis (West Haven, Conn.) out of the Southern New Hampshire defensive end. Baylis broke in all alone and buried his fifth goal of the season to make it 2-1 at intermission. It was also Baylis' fourth shorthanded marker of the year, which is tops among NCAA Division I, II and III ice hockey.

The Penmen pushed their lead to three goals in the second with a pair of powerplay strikes just 1:11 seconds apart. Junior Joe Collins (Mansfield, Mass.) doubled the Southern New Hampshire lead with his eighth of the season on a strong individual effort. Collins' initial bid rang off the post, but he crashed the net and put the rebound into the back of the cage with 12:52 to go in the period.

After Oswego was whistled for another penalty, sophomore Jay Sylvia (Acushnet, Mass.) scored what proved to be the game winning goal 8:19 into the second stanza. Collins controlled possession of the puck deep in the Lakers' zone before finding an open Sylvia on the doorstep. The sophomore fired a shot to the back of the net for his fourth of the year, making it 4-1 in favor of the Penmen heading into the final 20 minutes of play.

Oswego made a furious comeback attempt in the third period, scoring twice before the final horn sounded, but were unable to tally the equalizer.

Collins led the way for Southern New Hampshire with a goal and an assist, while Laperriere and senior Dane Caracino (Belmont, Mass.) each added two helpers in the victory. Freshman Ryan Slatky (Manchester, N.H.) registered 39 saves in goal for Penmen, including 14 in the final period to secure the win.

Southern New Hampshire is back in action on Tuesday when it closes out its six-game road trip against Westfield State University at 7:35 p.m. Oswego State will square off with Elmira College in its next contest on Friday at 7 p.m.

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