Is it happening again?
Everyone who follows CBA/Jamesville-DeWitt hockey knows how badly things started for the Brothers a season ago – and how it turned around in mid-season, leading to that dramatic run to a state Division II championship.
So when CBA/J-D found itself with a 3-4-3 mark at the midway point of the 2013-14 regular season, no one panicked that much – least of all coach Mike McKie and his players.
Instead, when the season resumed Friday night against red-hot New Hartford at Onondaga Nation Arena, the Brothers put together its best all-around effort of the season, rolling past the Spartans 5-2.
In no way was this foreseen. New Hartford, after all, arrived at Nedrow sporting an 11-1 record, a nine-game win streak and the no. 8 spot in the state Division II rankings. During that win streak, it had not allowed more than three goals in any game.
And CBA/J-D didn’t dazzle right away, either. But its defense was in top form throughout the first period, and the Brothers inched into a 1-0 lead.
They would trade goals in the second period. While New Hartford had most of the opportunities, it kept getting stymied in large part due to the work of goalie Tim Decker, who had his best showing since returning from knee surgery that sidelined him early in the season.
Decker’s 35 saves would spark the rest of the CBA/J-D squad, and in the third period it put the game away by scoring three times, all part of a deep and diverse attack where 10 players earned at least one points.
The five goal came from five different players – Ryan Durkin, Lucas Relkin, Sam Mueller, Pete Dziergas and Kyle Barker. Durkin and Relkin joined Kane Alletzhauser, Braeden Doust, Ryan McGuire, Connor Flannagan and Jed Raby in the assist column.
Now, the Brothers would get a chance to start climbing up the league standings, starting Tuesday at Cazenovia before returning home this Friday to face Oswego.
