Everything the Liverpool ice hockey team had accomplished during a five-game win streak was nice, but one elusive goal remained – getting Baldwinsville.
The Warriors had almost done so on Dec. 1, taking a narrow 4-3 defeat. Now the two teams that shared Lysander Arena as a home venue collided again, but here it didn’t prove as close, Liverpool blitzed early and then unable to answer as the Bees prevailed by a 3-0 margin.
Having seen last Tuesday’s game at Watertown IHC snowed out, Liverpool was refreshed, but B’ville was riding an eight-game win streak of its own, having just won the Ogdensburg Tournament on Jan. 14-15. What’s more, its roster had gained back some players that weren’t on the ice when the Warriors first faced them.
The vast improvement in B’ville’s play since early December was on display during that first period. It attacked hard and peppered Liverpool goaltender Steven Kozikoski with a host of opportunities.
That began to pay off when Josh Racha found the net at the 8:58 mark, the assist coming from Connor Carhart. Less than three minutes later, it was 2-0, with Charlie Bertrand taking his turn finding the net off a feed from Racha, and in the last minute of the period Zach Perez landed an unassisted goal.
Stunned by this early flurry, Liverpool settled down and, starting in the second period, cleaned up its defensive problems, turning away of B’ville’s opportunities as Kozikoski, making a series of point-blank stops, worked his way to 26 saves.
At the same time, though, the Warriors’ attack was stymied. B’ville’s defense piled up the blocked shots, so that Bees netminder Matt Sabourin only had to make 10 saves to keep Liverpool off the board and earn that ninth straight win.
A night earlier, Cicero-North Syracuse had gone through its own test when it visited Meachem Rink to face Syracuse, the state’s no. 4-ranked team. And for much of the game, the Northstars matched production and effort with the Cougars, even if it ended with a 6-4 loss.
The top C-NS line found success against Syracuse’s defense, with Noah Koenig and Logan Field netting two goals apiece and assisting on each other’s scoring plays, too. Jacob Den Bleyker, Brenden Villnave, Zach Matyasik and Dante Iannotti earned one assist apiece.
Despite this, and despite 32 saves from Northstars goaltender Jack Doren, the Cougars pulled it out, claiming its 13th win in 14 tries with six goals from six cifferent players – Bryan O’Mara, Matt Eccles, Matt Frye, Ryan Evanchak, Philip Zollo and Conrad Skrupa, with O’Mara adding a pair of assists.
C-NS treks to the Morrisville State IcePlex to face state Division II no. 7-ranked Cazenovia on Tuesday before returning to the Twin Rinks Friday to face Watertown IHC. Liverpool has three games in four nights, going to Watertown IHC Tuesday and to Meachem Rink to face Syracuse Thursday before returning to Lysander Friday to take on Fulton.
