Passing the midway point of its regular season, the Cicero-North Syracuse ice hockey team was still in a fierce battle to climb above the .500 mark.
By the time last week ended, though, the Northstars were in a far more confident position, especially in the wake of Friday’s impressive 4-1 victory over Baldwinsville at the Twin Rinks.
The Bees had only lost once in eight previous Division I games this season, and in recent years had dominated C-NS, regardless of the venue.
All of that changed in the first period of this meeting, though. C-NS was energetic and effective from the opening faceoff, not letting up until it had established a 3-0 lead.
No more was required, though the Northstars did tack on a third-period goal to answer one from Tyler Derito as Matt Cramer finished the night with two goals and one assist.
Holden Sarosy and Nick Sciore also scored, with Jake Den Bleyker getting two assists. Tyler Murray, Josh Matyasik and Nate Wagner had one assist apiece as Jordan Miller frustrated the Bees, stopping 20 of the 21 shots he faced.
At 4-4-1 going into last Monday’s game against Cazenovia at the Twin Rinks, C-NS proved effective on this night, keeping the Lakers off the board in a 4-0 shutout.
Cazenovia had won three of four prior to this game, but here ran into a C-NS defense that did not let them do much, Miller recording 20 saves.
Meanwhile, C-NS scored twice in each of the first two periods, more than enough to overcome Cazenovia goalie Logan Palmer’s 27 saves as DenBleyker had two goals and one assist, with Cramer getting a goal and two assists. Sarosy also had two assists as Aidan Long contributed a goal and Dan Quick an assist.
Liverpool hosted state Division I no. 3-ranked Syracuse last Tuesday at Lysander Arena, and for two periods dreamed of a season-altering upset before it all fell apart late in a 6-1 loss to the Cougars.
Under constant attack, the Warriors somehow kept the game close in the early stages, with goalie Gavin Buza sensational as he would work his way to 43 saves on the night.
And when Matt Gagnon scored off assists from Connor Boland and Anthony Benedetto in the second period, the game was tied, 1-1, where it stayed until the third period.
Only here did Syracuse overwhelm Buza, converting five times in that final period as Nate Frye and Ryan Eccles led the Cougars with two goals apiece and Ryan Durand added two assists.
Still at home Friday night, the Warriors faced CBA/Jamesville-DeWitt, and were in front most of the way, only to squander that advantage in a 6-5 overtime defeat to the Brothers.
Liverpool was quite good at the outset, leading 2-0 after one period, and despite CBA/J-D’s improvement still carried a 3-2 edge to the final period, where it scored twice more.
Yet the Brothers caught up, 5-5, and won it in OT with a big effort from Simon Lessor, who had a three-goal hat trick plus an assist/
Boland scored twice, with single goals going to Gagnon, Jack Irwin and Pat Langlois. Marco Palumbo joined Langlois in earning two assists as Xavier Springer and Joe Terranova had one assist apiece.
Liverpool’s five-game homestand concludes Friday against Clinton after a visit from Ontario Bay on Tuesday. C-NS makes up last Wednesday’s snowed-out Ithaca game Monday before hosting Fulton on Tuesday and facing Fayetteville-Manlius Thursday night
