Sometimes when winter weather forces the rescheduling of high school contests, it turns into something special. Such was the case when the Cicero-North Syracuse ice hockey team had to make up a game against Fayetteville-Manlius.
With the Twin Rinks unavailable Wednesday afternoon, the game got moved to, of all places, the Onondaga County War Memorial.
This allowed the Northstars and Hornets to play on the same ice as the Syracuse Crunch – and on the same day as the Crunch, too, since Syracuse was facing (and would beat) the Toronto Marlies later that night in American Hockey League action.
C-NS would take full advantage of this unique experience, jumping all over F-M in the early stages and not letting up until it had recorded an 8-1 victory over the Hornets.
Half of that production came in the first period, the Northstars bolting in front 4-0. Rob Mitchell got it going with a goal at the 3:56 mark before Jake DenBleyker found the net.
Moments after DenBleyker’s goal, Nick Sciore made it 3-0, and he assisted on the next goal, too, as Sciore eventually got three assists and matched point totals with DenBleyker, who had a second goal in the second period and got two assists.
Mitchell and Matt Cramer also found the net twice, while Tyler Murray netted a single goal. Josh Matyasik picked up two assists as single assists went to Murray, Logan Ungelich, Carter Wisely, Dan Quick, Holden Sarosy and Casey Koenig.
Meanwhile, goaltender Jack Doren stopped 28 of F-M’s 29 shots, only allowing a third-period goal by Will Duncanson.
The win improved C-NS’s record to 5-2-2 as, with a 5-1 league mark, it even leaped ahead of West Genesee in the Division I American Conference standings.
The Northstars are scheduled for three games in as many nights late this week, taking on Watertown IHC Thursday before hosting its own C-NS Optimists Tournament Friday and Saturday.
