Sam Walsh is headed to Le Moyne College due to his pitching prowess with the Westhill baseballl team – but for now, he’s making his impact between the pipes for ice hockey’s Syracuse Cougars.
And Walsh was never better than he was late in Friday night’s opening round of the Cicero-North Syracuse Optimist Tournament at Cicero Twin Rinks, where several big stops, including five in a tie-breaking shoot-out, allowed the Cougars to get even with CBA/Jamesville-DeWitt.
Just 11 days earlier, on Dec. 22, Syracuse lost to the state Division II no. 3-ranked Brothers at Meachem Rink, squandering a late lead in a painful 3-2 defeat.
Now came a chance for payback, and Walsh was arriving with plenty of confidence, having stopped all 17 shots he faced in a 4-0 shutout over Canton earlier in the week.
Yet in the game’s early stages, Walsh, and the rest of Syracuse’s defense, mostly stood as spectators. The Cougars had control of the flow of play throughout the first period, taking 10 shots to CBA/J-D’s three, but few of those chances were tough ones for Brothers goaltender Gabe Vinal.
They were still 0-0 when, early in the second period, CBA/J-D earned a power play. But at the 3:52 mark, Nick Matro stole the puck and broke in, alone, beating Vinal with a backhand for a short-handed goal to give the Cougars a 1-0 lead.
Still, the Brothers’ attack remained quiet – until, at the 10:29 mark of that same second period, the puck bounced in front of Walsh, and when he couldn’t handle Ryan Durkin’s shot, Zach Taylor pounded home the rebound.
Going into the third period, Syracuse had a 20-8 shot advantage, but that quickly changed. CBA/J-D, even without forward Pete Dziergas in the lineup (injury), sent waves of attackers that forced Walsh to scramble to make a series of stops.
All told, Walsh had 12 saves in that third period, and with Vinal making 27 saves, regulation ended 1-1, with neither side able to convert in the five minutes of overtime, either.
So it went to a shoot-out, five players apiece. Through the first four rounds, Walsh was perfect, including a spectacular stick save on Sam Mueller, while Syracuse’s Matt Eccles managed to beat Vinal to put Syracuse up 1-0.
Down to its last shot, CBA/J-D kept it alive when Tanner Coleman sent a backhand past Walsh. But in the sixth round, Walsh made a glove save on Ben McCreary, and when Colby Skrupa converted his shot, Syracuse had advanced.
Now many wondered if Syracuse would have anything left for Saturday’s final against Section VI visitor Orchard Park, who had beaten host C-NS 5-3 the night before without needing overtime.
As it turned out, this game went to overtime, too – but Syracuse won it, 2-1, a tense battle that was scoreless for two periods before Sean Eccles converted in the third period.
The Quakers answered, but in the five-minute OT period Eccles put home the game-winner as Walsh managed 17 saves this time around. Matt Frye, Andrew Hodgens, Dan Hodgens and Ryan Lehrer each earned one assist on Eccles’ goals.
In that 4-0 shutout over Canton, the Cougars broke it open with three goals in the second period, and again Sean Eccles led the attack, scoring twice and adding an assist. Collin Thompson and Conrad Skrupa had the other goals, with Liam Barry, Ryan Eccles and Byran O’Mara each getting two assists.
Syracuse has an overall record of 6-2-1 (the CBA/J-D game counted as a tie in the standings) as it returned to the Twin Rinks Wednesday night, this time to play Cicero-North Syracuse, before hosting Rome Free Academy on Friday.
