On and on in went, the Skaneateles and Canandaigua boys ice hockey teams enduring 12 rounds in a penalty shoot-out Saturday afternoon to determine the championship of the Duke Schneider Memorial Tournament at Allyn Arena.
And the Braves would prevail over the Lakers, 5-4, in that shoot-out, ending a weekend where the hosts would not give up a single goal in the normal flow of play, but still finish second.
For 45 minutes of regulation and 15 minutes of overtime, Skaneateles and Canandaigua tried to settle the tournament title, but it remained 0-0.
This was mostly a tribute to the work done in goal by Lakers senior Trevor Diamond. The Braves out-shot Skaneateles 26-11 in the first two periods, but could not move ahead.
The Lakers picked up its pressure in the third period, even earning a two-man advantage, but could not get anything past Canandaigua’s netminder, Doyle Kinnear, who kept the game scoreless.
Once a pair of OT periods were unable to settle the deadlock, it went to a shoot-out. The original plan was to have three shots apiece to determine the winner. It went much longer, though.
Nick Como beat Diamond on Canandaigua’s first attempt, but blanked on the next two tries. Mitchell Jones and Jake Cooney missed, too, but Brendan Major beat Kinnear in the third round, extending the shoot-out at least three more rounds.
After both sides missed in the fourth round, Jim Rodgers converted in the fifth round, only to see the Braves’ Dan Phelps score in the sixth round to tie it again, 2-2. Jon Rogalia now could end it, but he missed.
That meant three more rounds. Both sides missed in the seventh, and Scott Longtin’s goal in the eighth round again put Skaneateles ahead, 3-2, but again Canandaigua got even when Connor Guay scored in the ninth round and Matt Clymer could not get the clincher in response.
Como returned for the 10th round and scored for Canandaigua. Tyler Stanton’s attempt glanced off the post, but in the 11th round Major had his second goal of the shoot-out.
So they were 4-4, and in the 12th round Phelps got another turn, beating Diamond, who by now had accumulated 49 saves, and when Rodgers could not convert, the long battle was over.
None of this drama could be found in Friday night’s opening round, where Skaneateles took on New Hartford and patiently took the Spartans apart in a 7-0 shutout.
Only up 1-0 through one period, the Lakers pulled clear with three goals in each of the next two periods, spreading the production around as only Major found the net twice.
Five others – Rodgers, Clymer, Stanton, Jake Cooney and Owen Kuhns – scored, too, while Jack Fabrizio picked up two assists. Jones, Rogalia, Connor Hill, Tyler Strods and Max Weiss earned one assist apiece.
With the tournament over, Skaneateles goes to Whitesboro Tuesday before returning home Friday night to face CBA/J-D, a team it tied 2-2 earlier this season at Onondaga Nation Arena.
