Playoff seeding and schedule concerns could wait for another time, for on the first night of February it was time for Cicero-North Syracuse and Liverpool to bring its neighborhood rally to the ice rink.
Specifically, that meant playing at Lysander Arena, which the Warriors call home, but from where the Northstars emerged quite happy in the wake of a fine all-around performance that led to a 5-1 victory.
C-NS arrived at this juncture with a 7-8-1 record, having dropped three in a row, all by a single goal, before edging Oswego 4-3 on Jan. 26. Liverpool was 6-10-1 and also was going through a three-game skid.
What happened in the first two periods settled matters. The Warriors simply could not generate many chances in the face of a stifling Northstars defense, and C-NS converted enough to seize a 3-0 advantage.
Two more goals followed in the final period as Logan Ungelich found the net twice, with Holden Sarosy getting a goal and two assists. Nick Sciore had one goal and one assist as Matt Cramer also scored.
Jake DenBleyker, Carter Wisely and Tyler Murray chimed in with assists as Connor Boland earned the Northstars’ lone goal in the third period, assisted by Matt Gagnon and Jack Irwin.
Gavin Buza made 30 saves, but could not keep everything out, while the Warriors were held to 14 shots.
Liverpool travels to face Rome Free Academy at Kennedy Arena and then hosts Watertown IHC on Thursday. C-NS is set to play three times in as many days early this week against Mohawk Valley, Ontario Bay and Syracuse.
