A new era for Cicero-North Syracuse ice hockey has begun, and part of the quest for the Northstars is to get ahead of its neighbors from Liverpool, though the task won’t be too easy.

Kyle Bailey, who coached the Northstars program for a decade that included a top state ranking in 2013 and a historic win over Baldwinsville in the first hockey game ever played in the Carrier Dome in November 2014, stepped down in June, saying his multiple commitments would keep him from a full-time coaching commitment.

Not looking far for Bailey’s replacement, C-NS turned to Joel Hurd, an assistant coach under Bailey. Hurd’s head coaching debut would be a tough assignment last Friday at the Twin Rinks as the Northstars faced Auburn, who had roared to a 2-0 start with, among other things, a wild 6-5 victory over Auburn on Nov. 25, just before Thanksgiving.

It turned into a wild, exciting contest where C-NS did stay right with the Maroons most of the way, but could not overcome a porous defensive effort in the first period and lost by a 7-5 margin.

During those first 15 minutes, Auburn raced out to a 4-1 edge, its attack heavily leaning on Kaiden Tubbert, who by game’s end would produce four goals and an assist as linemate Jake Morin had two goals and three assists, with Casey Komanecky also getting three assists.

Fighting back, C-NS didn’t let the game get out of hand and, with a strong third period, made things tense. Zach Matyasik scored twice, with Logan Field adding a goal and two assists. Noah Koenig and Dante Ianotti each had one goal and one assist as Josh Matyasik, Parker Lane, Brendan Villnave and R.J. Wagner each had one assist. Goalie Jack Doren was busy, finishing with 30 saves.

Liverpool, who had lost a narrow season opener to Auburn on Nov. 25, got to resume last Tuesday against the team with which it shares its home ice in Lysander, Baldwinsville, and the reigning Section III Division I champions managed to outlast the Warriors in a 4-3 thriller.

Fired up to face the Bees, Liverpool traded goals with them through each of the first two periods. It was 1-1 after one and 3-3 after two frames, with Tom Bianchi, Bobby Welch and Anthony Terranova finding the net for the Warriors as Kyle Terzini, Jeff Gentile and Carson Ferguson joined Bianchi in the assist column.

During the third period, B’ville edged out in front, and goalie Matt Sabourin made sure Liverpool didn’t pull back even again. Though the Warriors took more shots on this night, Sabourin stopped 31 of them, getting help from a balanced Bees attack where four different players – Matt Metcalf, Brett Sabourin, Zack Perez and Josh Racha – earned those four goals.

Looking to rebound Thursday night in a non-league game against Cortland-Homer from the Division II ranks, the Warriors shook off those defeats and, on its third try, reached the win column, Bianchi leading the way in a 4-2 victory over the Golden Eagles.

Never trailing, Liverpool inched out to a 1-0 first-period lead. Then it traded goals with Cortland-Homer, requiring a pair of third-period tallies to build up a 4-1 margin, which proved enough.

Through it all, Bianchi proved tough to stop, scoring three times to earn a hat trick. Welch earned the other goal and added an assist as Terzini, Richie Hart and Anthony Teranova joined Welch in the assist column. Kozikoski stopped 17 of the 19 shots he faced.

Liverpool looks to climb to the .500 mark Tuesday at Fulton before venturing north for the Ontario Bay Tournament, where it meets Mohawk Valley in Friday’s opening round, with the championship and consolation games set for Saturday.

Meanwhile, C-NS hosts Watertown IHC Monday and then make it own trip north for back-to-back weekend games against Canton and Potsdam.