A trio of non-league games against Saratoga, Canton and Pittsford that span the week where 2014 turns into 2015 will get the West Genesee ice hockey team to the midway point of its regular-season schedule.
And it entered that stretch with a 3-3-1 record, having won back-to-back Division I American Conference road games, including Friday night’s trip to Cicero Twin Rinks, where steady production led to a 6-2 victory over Fayetteville-Manlius.
Even with a 0-6 record, F-M still posed a danger, something WG realized when, leading 2-0, after one period, it surrendered both goals by the Hornets, one each By J.P. Ciappa and Garrett Zogby.
But the Wildcats dominated the flow of play all night, holding F-M to just eight shots while unleashing a barrage that overcame goalie Erik Badger’s 54 saves answered those scoring plays.
WG led 4-2 going to the third period, and pulled away as David Procopio, with two goals and two assists, had his most productive outing of the season so far.
Ryan McDonald also scored twice, adding an assist. Matt McDonald produced three assists, while Marshall Winn and Steve Anderson had one goal apiece. Jay Considine and Pat McDonald contributed single assists.
Sporting a 4-1 record and having scored double-digit goals in three of those wins, the Syracuse Cougars would take the measure of 5-0-1 CBA/Jamesville-DeWitt Monday night at Meachem Rink, and do quite well – at least until the third period, when the Brothers rallied to edge past the Cougars 3-2.
Having scored 25 goals in its previous two games, Syracuse knew that CBA/J-D would provide a far more difficult challenge, and the first period proved it, all going quiet until the Brothers’ Tanner Coleman, amid a scramble in front of the net at the 9:48 mark, poked the puck past Sam Walsh to put his side in front 1-0.
After seeing a second CBA/J-D disallowed due to goaltender interference, the Cougars tied it, 1-1, with 1:14 left in the opening period thanks to Sean Eccles’ power-play goal.
It stayed that way until late in the second period. Both teams squandered power-play chances, but at the 10:49 mark Syracuse, again with the man advantage, grabbed a 2-1 lead as Sean Eccles converted again, with Matt Eccles and C.J. Walsh getting assists.
For the rest of the game, though, the Cougars could not put anything past CBA/J-D goalie Gabe Vinal, who turned back 26 of the 28 shots he faced, giving his side plenty of time to rally.
Sure enough, with 9:55 left it was tied again, 2-2, thanks to a goal by the Brothers’ Kane Alletzhauser, who was only playing as a forward due to injuries elsewhere on the roster.
Then, with less than five minutes left, CBA/J-D captain Ryan Durkin, taking a well-timed pass from Lucas Relkin, flipped the puck past Walsh for the go-ahead goal. Though the Cougars tried to answer down the stretch, it could not do so, and fell to 4-2 on the season.
Syracuse is back in action next Monday, in a non-league game against Canton that precedes West Genesee’s game against them a day later.
