All through its 10-0 start and rise to the top of the state Division I rankings, about the only concern for the West Genesee ice hockey team was that, sometimes, its offense would stagnate, leaving it to the vaunted back line to preserve slimmer-than-normal leads.
That wasn’t a problem, though, when the Wildcats began the 2012 portion of its schedule by generating all kinds of offense against Cicero-North Syracuse in a 9-1 romp Wednesday night at Shove Park.
CNS arrived with a solid 6-2 record and, in Eric Hamilton, possesses one of the top scoring threats in all of Central New York. But Hamilton was held in check, save for a second-period goal, and by that point WG was well out in front.
Wasting little time, the Wildcats struck for three unanswered goals in the first period. And it didn’t top there, as WG tacked on five more tallies in the second period for an 8-1 margin, giving the main players a chance to rest in the third period.
Before he exited, Erik Kurz put together a three-goal hat trick, while Tommy Hanley set up more scoring plays through his career-best four assists.
Shawn Lynch had two goals and an assist, while Jimmy Sauda managed a goal and two assists. Matt Skrupa and David Procopio each had one goal and one assist as Jason Keyes also found the net. Jon Lauer had two assists and Nate Colabufo recorded his first assist of the season.
Solvay, in second place behind WG in Division I West, would not return to the ice until Friday night, at Cortland-Homer, and perhaps the 10-day layoff had a negative effect on the Bearcats, who never got into any kind of flow in a 3-0 loss to the Golden Eagles.
Ryan Bonk started in goal and made 29 saves, but watched Cortland-Homer build up its winning margin in the first two periods. And the Bearcats could not respond, watching all 21 of its shots gobbled up by Golden Eagles netminder Brandon Paquin.
WG will be back in action next Tuesday night, at Onatrio Bay, returning to Shove Park 24 hours later to meet Fayetteville-Manlius. Solvay also gets its shot at F-M next Friday at Allyn Arena after going to Baldwinsville on Tuesday.
