CENTRAL NEW YORK – On a frigid Saturday afternoon, the Cazenovia ice hockey team stepped into the late-season spotlight, hoping that all the work it had done to establish its status as a championship contender was not in vain.
Here was the state Division I no. 7-ranked Lakers welcoming state no. 5-ranked Baldwinsville to the Morrisville State IcePlex, and while it put out a fine effort, the Bees started quick and never got caught, prevailing by a score of 4-1.
Ultimately, the first period proved decisive. B’ville, who had played the night before (and beat Cicero-North Syracuse 6-4), struck for a pair of goals to take a 2-0 advantage.
Forrest Ives did score in opening minute of the second period to cut the deficit in half, but the Bees answered it later in the period and blanked the Lakers the rest of the way, adding an insurance goal in the third/
Cy McCrink, in goal, finished with 24 saves. Cole Schuyler scored twice and added an assist to pace the Bees while Sam Ciappa had one goal and one assist. Matt Carner netted the other goal as goalie Patrick Morgan turned away 26 of 27 shots.
Cazenovia had tuned up by going to State Fair Coliseum last Tuesday and, against Fayetteville-Manlius, battled its way to a 3-0 shutout of the Hornets.
This was a game mostly noted for the way both defenses played. F-M proved stingy, yet could not get on the board as Logan Hull’s first-period goal was the only tally on either side.
They were still 1-0 going to the third period, when Cazenovia got away thanks to tallies from Jake Owens and Josh Whaley, while McCrink stopped all 13 of the Hornets’ shots.
In the Lakers’ 15-1 romp over Fulton on Jan. 13, Owens and Ives both produced four goals and two assists, with Andrew Murray netting a three-goal hat trick of his own.
Hull, James LaFever, Jack Donlin and Gage Marshall each put up single goals, with Donlin adding three assists. Ives and Owens had two assists apiece, as did Tyson Frederiksen, with single assists going to Bryson Weaver, Ashley O’Hara, Gavin Winn, Russ LaFever, Dan Scholl, Will Penoyer and James Dapson.
