One more victory separates the CBA/Jamesville-DeWitt ice hockey team from a return to the state Division II tournament that it conquered two winters ago.
This is the case even though the Brothers have only reached the semifinals of the Section III playoffs, doing so Wednesday night with a 9-2 romp over Clinton on home ice at Onondaga Nation Arena.
For 2015, the New York State Public High School Athletic Association revamped its state Division II tournament bracket to assure that no team had a bye straight into the semifinal round.
In order to make that happen, Section III was given two berths in the state tournament – one for its champion, the other for its runner-up. Thus, both of the sectional finalists, regardless of the result of the Feb. 28 title game at Utica Memorial Auditorium, will see their seasons continue into March.
CBA/J-D knew all this, but could not look past its opening playoff assignment. Clinton, the third-place finisher in the Division II National Conference, went 11-9 in the regular season and played the Brothers close in the opening round of its own tournament at Clinton Arena Dec. 26.
Though CBA/J-D won that game, 2-0, it knew that, in Warriors goaltender Joe Bonanza, it had someone that could prove tough to solve unless it provided consistent pressure.
And that’s exactly what the Brothers did throughout the first period, taking 10 shots that Bonanza stopped before a 38-second outburst in the last minute of the period where Ben McCreary and Sam Mueller both scored to produce a 2-0 lead.
Any comfort level quickly vanished, though, when Clinton’s Ben Owens sent the rebound of a slap shot past Gabe Vinal with 10.4 seconds left in the period, making it 2-1 at intermission.
Sometimes, the momentum of a late goal can carry over into the next period. All that did here, though, was make CBA/J-D angry, and it went out and took 19 shots in the second period to Clinton’s three, slowly wearing the Warriors’ defense down.
Though that barrage only led to one goal, from Lynch Raby at the 5:46 mark, it proved effective because, early in the third period, the game got out of hand.
Within a two-minute span, Zach Taylor scored twice, with Cole Fowler managing a goal in between, turning a competitive game into a 6-1 margin. And CBA/J-D didn’t stop there, Taylor getting a natural hat trick and Ryan Durkin scoring short-handed before Mueller added a second goal in the waning seconds.
Two nights later, CBA/J-D found out its Division II semifinal assignment – and much to its delight, it was not a visit to New Hartford, where it had lost earlier this season.
Instead, the Brothers will host Whitesboro next Wednesday at Nedrow after the Warriors shocked New Hartford 2-1 in triple overtime, with Jacob Hyer getting the winning goal in the third extra period and Tim Evans recording 42 saves.
Back on Jan. 22, CBA/J-D blanked Whitesboro 4-0. Now, it looks to whip the Warriors again, both assuring a state tournament berth and a trip to Utica to face Skaneateles or Auburn in the Feb. 28 sectional final.
