Perhaps the rarest feat in ice hockey occurred Tuesday night at Cicero Twin Rinks, and Fayetteville-Manlius goaltender Tyler Palmerton was responsible for it. Time was winding down in the game between the Hornets and Northstars, who both use the Twin Rinks as a home venue during the winter. F-M led, 3-2, having seized a 3-1 advantage in the first two periods as Taylor Bellina earned two goals and Trevor Chase also scored. Then CNS cut the margin to one and, with less than a minute left, took its goalie, Zach Hall, out of the net in favor of an extra attacker in order to try and tie it. The Northstars drove the puck toward the net, and it went to Palmerton, who had 19 saves in what had been, up to that point, a solid, but routine performance. What happened next was anything but routine.
With a flick of his wrists, Palmerton sent the puck straight up the middle, and it skidded along the ice until it had found the unoccupied net with 41 seconds left, despite the late slide of a CNS defender. Palmerton had scored a goal, the first F-M netminder to pull this off during a game, and it clinched the Hornets’ 4-2 victory over the Northstars. The goal gained further fame when a parent, filming the game, posted the goal on YouTube.
And it overshadowed the playoff chase of CBA/J-D, whose hopes took a slight hit Friday night during a 3-2 loss to Cortland/Homer. The Brothers led, 1-0, through one period, and would score again in the third period, both of them by Harry Kalet. Brendan Flanagan and Nick Papayanakos got credit for assists. In between, though, Cortland/Homer made its decisive move, pouring in three unanswered goals in the second period, two of them from Casie Garrison. Despite Dan DiStefano’s 15 saves,the Brothers would not catch up.