A mostly quiet winter erupted with lake-effect snowstorms that started to affect the schedules of local high school teams, including ice hockey.
West Genesee’s game against Liverpool at Greater Baldwinsville Ice Arena last Tuesday was postponed until Feb. 8, right at the end of the regular season.
This meant that, by the time the Wildcats took the ice in Friday’s game against Cortland-Homer at Shove Park, it had not played in 10 days.
Perhaps that long rest caused WG’s attack to take a while to get on track – but when it did, the Wildcats seized control and produced a 5-1 victory over the Golden Eagles.
One thing that wasn’t missing was the defense. Anchored by Robby Michel and Nick Mellen, WG’s back line kept Cortland-Homer off the board in the first two periods and protected goaltender Henry Burns, who only had to make 17 saves.
Steadily, the Wildcats made its way to a 3-0 lead through those two periods, its attack anchored by Tom Hanley, who earned three assists, and David Procopio, who had a goal and two assists.
Five different players – Procopio, Michel, Tim Sexton, Ryan McDonald and Grainger Sasso – would earn WG’s five goals. Mike Phillipone, Derek Farrell, Jake O’Donnell and Aaron Jones had one assist apiece.
Back on that Tuesday where WG was snowed out, the Syracuse Cougars had its own game against Cortland-Homer, and put together one of its best all-around efforts of the season in routing the Golden Eagles 7-1.
There was no big outburst in this contest. Instead, the Cougars steadily accumulated goals, gaining a 4-0 edge by the end of the second period with a deep and versatile attack.
In all, 12 different players earned points, and seven different players had the seven goals. Pat Farrell, Erick Viola, Sean Eccles, Mark Purcell, Matt Pitre, Dan Donahue and Liam Barry all found the net by game’s end.
Ben Carrock chimed in with two assists, with Matt Thompson, Cam Bennett, Matt Matro and Brandon Devendorf joining Eccles in the assist column. In goal, Jim Albright lost his shutout in the third period, but still managed to stop 24 of the 25 shots he faced.
Entering this week, Syracuse, with 13 points, was tied with Fayetteville-Manlius and Baldwinsville for second place in Division I West, three points behind West Genesee, but could turn that around since it faces the Hornets Thursday after hosting Liverpool on Monday night.
Meanwhile, WG has its own game against F-M on Tuesday, the prelude to Friday night’s clash with B’ville, also at Shove Park.