Snowy Days…
January 27, 2026
Yesterday was supposed to be the first day of spring semester classes – and the first lacrosse practice of the season – at Oswego State.
Instead, the College announced on Saturday that yesterday’s and today’s classes would all be taught remotely. Not quite a Snow Day, but close.
The City of Oswego released a Travel Advisory recommending no unnecessary travel. Yesterday the Oswego City School District announced that they were closed, and today they had a two-hour delay.
Two meetings I had on my Sunday morning calendar were also affected. The ULF meeting turned into a Zoom call, and the CNYLOA meeting was postponed till this coming Sunday.
Sunday night old-guy hockey in Fulton was canceled, and I’m guessing we got about 15” of the white stuff from Sunday to Monday.
So, reminiscent of the Jack Torrance character in Stephen King’s The Shining, here I sit at my keyboard… “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy…All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy… All work and…”
OK, maybe I exaggerate a bit. I’m not going stir-crazy. Yet.
I mean, it’s lacrosse season, for Pete’s sake! SU plays this Sunday (albeit inside the JMA Wireless Dome), but there are home games scheduled Saturday at Bucknell, West Point, Hofstra, Michigan, Rutgers, Holy Cross, Denver, and NJIT. Dartmouth, Air Force, Penn State, and Ohio State are set to host their respective openers on Sunday…
And I went to Coach Marty Ward’s Florida Southern practice last Wednesday; they’re getting ready to open their 2026 season on Sunday. What did I report a couple weeks ago – 16 D-I games on Saturday and 7 more on Sunday? Well, guess what? There are 7 D-II games scheduled for Saturday and 4 more on Sunday (but Friday officially kicks things off with 2 D-II contests). And of course, what D-I and D-II do, D-III is sure to follow; there are 5 D-III games set for Saturday.
That’s 41 games – not scrimmages! – set for the next six days. And this will probably be the lightest weekend of the entire season.
After watching Mother Nature’s wrath on full display at Gillette Stadium Sunday afternoon, I couldn’t help but feel an all-too-familiar chill in my bones. The thought of playing in the snow brought back some fond memories…
After 28 years coaching at Oswego State, a few climactic climatic benchmarks stick in my memory. There was the “mud game” vs. Nazareth in 1996, the “rain games” at home vs. Keuka sometime in the ‘90s and at SUNY-Maritime in 2009, and the two “ice games” at home, both vs. Elmira…
But then there was the “snow game”…
In 1996, we had a pretty good team and traveled down to Ithaca for a Wednesday afternoon game in early April. The Bombers were 0-2 but ranked #15 in that week’s USILA Coaches’ Poll. We were 2-1 with wins against Widener and Union and a loss to Washington College. I don’t remember any concerns about the day’s weather as we got out of our locker room and headed up to the Upper Terrace Field. It didn’t start snowing until we were warming up, and once it started, it came down hard.
As we got ready for opening lineups and the National Anthem, the field was pretty much covered. Support staff started shoveling the sidelines. I wish I could remember who the refs were that day, but we met with Ithaca head coach Jeff Long and discussed what we would do. As I recall, Longman’s thoughts were typical of his uniquely laid-back demeanor – “I’m thinking you’re here, we’re here, and the refs are here. Let’s play.”
And play we did. We went toe-to-toe with the Bombers in the first half, and led 6-5 at halftime. I don’t recall if we used yellow, orange, or plain white balls, but I do remember that it was almost impossible to see the scoreboard at the far end of the field – that’s how hard it was snowing. Long passes were never caught; you simply lost sight of the ball in flight. I know that both teams stayed outside during halftime; the locker room was a hike, and maybe we feared that one of the teams wouldn’t return for the second half.
The newspaper clippings say we came out and scored six goals in the third quarter and three more in the fourth. Ithaca scored just two goals in the third and two more in the fourth. Final score – Oswego 15, Ithaca 9, marking the Lakers’ first-ever win over the Bombers. The clipping from the Ithaca Journal was headlined “Laker-Effect blizzard on South Hill.”
After the game, Jeff congratulated me and said something like, “Don’t let anyone tell you that we lost because of the bad weather. You guys just kicked our butts.” Classic Longman…
Four days later we lost to #7 Cortland by a 10-8 score and came out #20 in the following Poll – the first time Oswego was ever in the USILA Top 20… all due to that remarkable and most memorable win in the snow!
A less-dramatic second-place “snow game” memory might go to last year’s game at Keuka College. We were scheduled to play at 7 PM following a women’s game at 4. As we arrived, we learned that the women’s game had been suspended due to limited visibility. Eventually they resumed play and finished their game, but by the time we got to the field to warm up, it was covered in snow – and ice. Staffers were going around the perimeter with shovels, clearing the sidelines. Once we started the game, there was lots of slipping and sliding, and play for both teams was nothing to be proud of. I think both teams were wishing they were somewhere – anywhere! – else. Once again, we came out victorious on the scoreboard, but there were no national rankings at stake. And there was no tailgating that night – we got our food delivered to the bus and ate on the way home, just trying to get the feeling back in our fingers and toes.
Oswego and snow go together like peanut butter and jelly, but the memories I just shared happened in March and April – not January or February. These programs scheduling games this early in the year are just asking for it.
Maybe some will luck out and get decent weather, but I’m guessing there’s going to be some re-scheduling and even a few last-minute scrambles into indoor facilities.
A couple years ago, in my recent return to the Laker sidelines, we had a practice one night that also proved quite memorable. Thanks to the prevalence of cameras and iPhones, a team manager caught this classic photo from the press box:
Dad Joke: “Pretty cool, huh?”
But maybe the best Oswego/practice/snow story happened back in 2008. The first day of practice was going to be the day after the Superbowl, and that year’s captains and coaching staff all agreed that we needed extra hours, so we planned both early morning and afternoon/evening practices in Romney Fieldhouse (which had not been renovated yet – the cement pad for the old hockey rink was still there, and we practiced on it!).
Forecasters warned of a heavy snowstorm coming in that Sunday night, but we stuck to our plan – the 6 AM Monday practice was on.
Sometime during the game, I got a call from one of our captains. “Coach, what if we get as much snow as they’re predicting? Some of the guys are going to have a tough time getting to Laker Hall at 5:30 in the morning…”
Put on the spot, I made what I thought then was a good policy – I said, “If Oswego City Schools are delayed or closed, then the morning practice is canceled.”
Well, long story short, we didn’t have morning practice for about a week and half. Oswego got buried with about 120” (that’s ten feet!) of snow over the next nine days. I think the local schools were either closed or delayed every day. The Weather Channel and TV networks sent their news trucks to cover the story. If I’m not mistaken, the College never cancelled classes, and we proceeded to practice every afternoon or evening – but we went about ten days without an early practice.
“Baby, it’s cold outside...”
Just yesterday afternoon I got a phone call – unexpected, out of the… gray – from an Oswego State senior laxer. He said, “Hey Coach, some of the guys and I were wondering if you needed any help shoveling out,” which made me laugh. In all my 44 years of coaching lacrosse in this Winter Wonderland known as Oswego, I have only asked for help once – and that was just last year, when I asked for some help shoveling off my roof. I’m not getting any younger, and it had been years since I was up there.
In fact, I used to rate Oswego winters by reporting on 1 – the number of snow days we’d had, and 2 – how many times I’d shoveled off my roof.
Anyway, four brave souls agreed to come over last winter, and they spent about an hour and a half clearing my roof and walkways.
And now, they’re offering to come over and do it again.
I mean, how cool is that? (see what I did there? Another reference to the cold).
But I graciously declined the senior’s offer; I could just picture a bunch of off-campus guys sitting around their house, bored out of their minds with no classes or practice, when one of them says, “I wonder if Coach Wit needs any help?” Thanks for thinking of me, guys, but my wife and I had already gone out earlier in the day and gotten the job done.
But here I am today, some 24 hours later, and I might give a different answer the next time they offer – if, in fact, they ever do.
Stay warm, everyone! And remember – February is right around the corner!
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Please, drive carefully, and put down that cell phone! Donate blood. Get vaccinated. Volunteer. Stay safe, stay smart, and stay kind. Help someone in need – and be sure to take care of your crew!
- Dan Witmer
Dan is the author of four books: The Best of Road Trip Dad – The Laker Lacrosse Collection is an accumulation of 45 articles written for www.JustLacrosseUpstate between the years 2012 and 2018, about the history and traditions, the people, and the stories of the Oswego State men’s lacrosse program. … and piles to go before I sleep – The Book of Wit is his memoir describing his 33-year career teaching HS English and coaching at Hannibal Central School. His third book, The Best of RTD – A Lacrosse Coach’s Handbook contains more than 55 weekly Road Trip Dad blogs spanning 2012-2020, featuring Xs and Os, highs and lows, and even some Dos and Don’ts, and plenty of advice for coaches of all levels. His latest book, The Best of Road Trip Dad – On the Shoulders of Giants: Upstate’s Lacrosse Founders and Legends, profiles more than 50 icons who helped grow the game in Upstate NY. All four books are available at www.amazon.com.
Dan grew up in Lynbrook, NY before coming to Oswego State to earn his teaching and coaching certifications. He then taught English at Hannibal High School for 33 years before retiring in 2015.
In addition to coaching the Oswego State Laker men’s lacrosse team part-time from 1982-2010, Dan also coached JV and varsity girls’ soccer at Hannibal for 16 years, girls’ ice hockey at Oswego HS for 8 years, and boys’ JV and varsity lacrosse at Oswego HS for 12 years.
Dan is now in his 18th year assisting Summit Lacrosse Ventures with their various tournaments, especially the annual Lake Placid Summit Classic, and he worked for 3d Lacrosse for three years as well. He has served on the staffs of the 2014 FIL World Games in Denver, the 2015 FIL Indoor Championships in Syracuse, the 2018 FIL World Games in Netanya, Israel, the 2022 U21 World Championship in Limerick, Ireland, and the World Lacrosse Championships in San Diego in 2023. He was the game ops staff director for the World Lacrosse Men’s and Women’s Box Championships in Utica in September of 2024, and he served as the field manager at the World Lacrosse Men’s U20 championships in Jeju, South Korea in 2025. In 2023, he created Witmer Solutions LLC, a lacrosse event staffing and internship offering service that he hopes will get his foot – and others’ – in the door at lacrosse events worldwide.
Dan served as the Community Service Coordinator for the Oswego State athletic department from 2010-2023 and has been a certified lacrosse referee for the past seven years. He has also been the Volunteer Event Organizer for the annual St. Baldrick’s fundraiser in Oswego for the past 18 years, raising more than one million dollars for childhood cancer research.
In 2023, he returned to the Oswego State coaching staff as an assistant coach, where he currently serves as defensive coordinator and alumni liaison.
Dan and Sue Witmer live in Oswego, while their older son Brian, his wife Jane, and son Benji live outside of Prague, Czech Republic, and younger son Eric lives in the suburbs of Denver, Colorado.
The hope is for many more road trips to come.