CENTRAL NEW YORK – Though it only played once last week, the Christian Brothers Academy/Jamesville-DeWitt ice hockey team knew it was an important test.
The Brothers and Whitesboro met Friday at State Fair Coliseum and were fighting for playoff positio. Both knew that third place in Division II could mean avoiding a possible semifinal against top seed and defending state champion Skaneateles.
And it was the Warriors who got the best of the battle prevailing by a score of 4-2 as it overcame a strong start from the home side.
Twice in the first period, Quinn Wimer found the net for CBA/J-D, with Seamus Nicholson and Will Sharlow assisting on both of the scoring plays.
That gave the Brothers a 2-1 lead, but Whitesboro’s defense smothered CBA/J-D the rest of the night, limiting it to just 16 total shots.
Meanwhile, the Warriors, overcoming Ben Lovell’s 26 saves, tied it in the second and scored twice in the final period to move in front as Santino Pedula, with two goals, and Frank Centro, with a goal and two assists, led the comeback.
Fayetteville-Manlius returned to its old home at the Twin Rinks Tuesday and got a rude greeting from the side that still plays there.
Cicero-North Syracuse netted five goals in the first period and never got caught, handling the Hornets 9-1 as Emmit Porter (three goals, two assists) and Tanner Long (two goals, three assists) paced the Northstars.
Only in the third period did F-M get on the board, William Sanzone scoring off a feed from Gavin Patnode. Chris Finger, again starting in goal, recorded 31 saves.
A 5-2 defeat to Ithaca followed on Friday, the Hornets seeing its record fall to 4-11 as it would take on Liverpool and Rome Free Academy next week, CBA/J-D (7-6-1) having its own game against Ithaca this Saturday after facing C-NS and Oswego.
