An historic opportunity presented itself for the Liverpool ice hockey team went it went to Shove Park Saturday night to face West Genesee in the opening round of the Section III Division I playoffs.
Since 2007, no one had beaten the Wildcats in sectional play as it had earned seven consecutive championships. The Warriors had a chance to end that run, and got a remarkable effort in goal from Steven Kozikoski, but still lost a 3-2 decision.
They had first met this winter on Jan. 12, at Greater Baldwinsville Ice Arena, Liverpool keeping it close thanks to Kozikoski’s 35 saves, but taking a 2-0 defeat because it only managed eight shots against an airtight WG defense.
Immediately after that game, the Wildcats one of its top forwards, Derek Farrell, back from a wrist injury, and its offense immediately picked up, four times scoring double-digit goals in its remaining eight regular-season games.
Now came the playoff rematch, and though Kozikoski missed the warm-ups while returning from club tournament play, he arrived at Shove Park in time for the opening face-off. Still, it took a while for the Warriors to get going, and while that happened, WG bolted to a 2-0 lead.
Just 3:15 into the game, David Procopio, pouncing on a shot by Ryan McDonald that Kozikoski could not hold on to, put home the rebound. Then, at the 7:42 mark of the first period, WG doubled the lead as Jay Considine, taking a pass from Steve Anderson, kept it himself on a two-on-break and sent a low shot between Kozikoski’s pads into the net.
Once that was done, though, Kozikoski began to unleash his net skills, turning back all kinds of Wildcats scoring opportunities and recording 11 saves in the first period.
Fired up by that, Liverpool took advantage of a power play and, 52 seconds into the second period, got on the board when Richie Hart’s shot from the right point flew past Nick Skidmore and found the top left corner of the net. Nate Bittel and Donny Husted earned assists.
Physical play marked the rest of the period, with the Warriors killing off a four-minute WG power play and a handful of roughing penalties, too. Kozikoski turned back all nine shots he faced to keep it a 2-1 game with one period left.
Early in the third period, WG’s pressure picked up even more, and it paid off when Considine, flashing open at the point, ripped a wrist shot past Kozikoski with 8:13 left. But that 3-1 lead lasted all of 58 seconds before Husted answered on the other end, again cutting the margin to one.
All told, the Wildcats took 38 shots to Liverpool’s eight. But due to Kozikoski’s brilliance, it had to hang on to the puck throughout the final minutes, not letting the Warriors pull for an extra attacker until the waning seconds, at which point it was unable to get a shot at the tying goal.
Two nights earlier, Cicero-North Syracuse’s season ended in the opening round at Meachem Rink, where it took a 9-2 defeat to the top-seeded Syracuse Cougars.
Just 10 days earlier, on Feb. 9, Syracuse had won 10-2 over the Northstars at Cicero Twin Rinks. But that result didn’t mean that the Cougars would take C-NS lightly in the playoff rematch.
The Northstars got on the board once in each of the first two periods, thanks to goals by Sutter Donegan and Matt Siegel. The pair assisted on each other’s scoring plays as Zach Sheridan also got an assist.
Despite this, and despite 31 saves from goalie Cole Parzych, C-NS trailed, 5-2, after two periods, and Syracuse pulled away with four unanswered goals in the final period as Sean Eccles and Colby Skrupa each scored twice, with Nick Matro earning a career-best five assists.
So a season that began in glory Nov. 21, with C-NS stunning Baldwinsville in overtime in the first-ever hockey game in the Carrier Dome, ended with the Northstars sporting an 8-12-1 record. Liverpool, who only graduates a handful of seniors, finished at 10-11.
