Even though it was all but locked into second place in the Division I American Conference, the Cicero-North Syracuse ice hockey team had dropped three consecutive games late in January, two of them back-to-back to CBA/Jamesville-DeWitt.
It wouldn’t be easy for the Northstars to break that slump since it would host state Division I no. 12-ranked Baldwinsville last Tuesday night at the Twin Rinks. Here, C-NS was superb on the defensive side – and still lost, 1-0, to the Bees.
Tanner McCaffrey picked up that lone goal, assisted by Mark Monaco and Brendan Wilcox, with Northstars goalie Jack Doren stopping everything else the rest of the night on his way to 33 saves overall.
But Ben Dwyer and the rest of the Bees’ defense stood out as it earned a second consecutive shutout to follow the 5-0 win over Whitesboro it had on Jan. 27. C-NS took just 14 shots, all stopped by Jeremy Rappard.
Back at Lysander Arena, Liverpool was facing state Division I no. 13-ranked Syracuse, whose 10-game win streak was broken up by West Genesee in a Jan. 27 showdown at Shove Park.
Having lost to the Cougars 10-0 early in December, the Warriors tried to turn that around, but saw Syracuse break open a scoreless game in the second period and go to beat Liverpool 7-1.
For the victorious Cougars, Bryan O’Mara and Sean Eccles had two goals apiece. Single goals went to Philip Zollo, Mack Etoll and Ryan Durand, with Jack Grooms picking up three assists. Skariwate Papineau earned two assists.
On Saturday, Liverpool would have its own game against B’ville at Lysander, trying to get a lost closer after the Bees handled them 12-1 a month earlier, but again the Bees rolled, winning a 9-1 decision.
Now Warriors go on the road, north to face Watertown IHC Tuesday and to Shove Park to face West Genesee Friday before a Saturday game against Fayetteville-Manlius at the Twin Rinks – where C-NS and F-M would face off early this week.
