Not until early in January did the Skaneateles girls ice hockey team absorb a defeat, and even that took overtime – but it was followed by the most astonishing rally in recent memory.
Hosting Oswego Friday night at Austin Park Pavilion, the Lakers trailed the Buccaneers deep into the third period, only to make it all the way back, force overtime and then pull out a 5-4 victory.
Gina Scibetta’s pair of goals had Oswego in front, 2-0, by the end of the first period. Then, off a feed from Whitney Daino (who already had an assist), Scibetta scored a third time for the hat trick, and it was 3-0 through two periods.
Scibetta returned again early in the third period to assist on Hannah Croteau’s tally, and now it was 4-0 in the Bucs’ favor, Skaneateles seemingly headed to its second straight loss.
Then Sophie Kush took over. With less than seven minutes to play in regulation, Kush put the Lakers on the board on a goal assisted by Abby Kuhns. A few minutes later, it was 4-2, Kush passing it to Grace Schnorr, who converted.
Now, as regulation time wound down, Skaneateles pulled goaltender Maria McLean. With the extra attacker, the suddenly-hot Lakers cut the deficit to one, 4-3, as Kuhns found the net, with assists from Kush and Paige Postalwait.
Stunned, Oswego found itself defending an all-out Laker attack in the final minute. And with 21 seconds to play, Kush, off a feed from Kuhns, pushed home the tying goal.
During the five-minute overtime period, both sides had chances, but as the last minute ticked away, Kush gathered the puck in her own end, made it past several Bucs defenders and, with a backhand shot, gained her own hat trick and won the game.
Before all this, the Lakers fell, 3-2, to Ithaca last Monday night on the Little Red’s home ice at Cornell University, a game that would go back and forth the whole way.
Trailing 1-0, Skaneateles pulled even thanks to Kush’s goal, assisted by Kuhns and Allison Weiss. Ithaca retook the lead 2-1, but the Lakers rallied again, Kuhns and Kush this time getting the assists on Postalwait’s tying goal.
And it would stay 2-2 into overtime, when Ithaca put the game-winner past Lakers goalie Maria McLean. For much of the night, McLean proved solid, stopping 22 of the 25 shots she faced.
Two nights later, Skaneateles was set to face Oswego, but frigid weather and snow caused a postponement until Friday’s remarkable turn of events.
Meanwhile, the state Division II no. 2-ranked Skaneateles boys ice hockey team saw its lone game of the week, at Ontario Bay, postponed twice – once on Tuesday, then again on Thursday – by that same lake-effect snow.
That was the only game the Lakers had scheduled until next Wednesday night, when it would visit state no. 7-ranked New Hartford (who just knocked off no. 3-ranked CBA/Jamesville-DeWitt 2-1), the start of five games in a nine-day stretch, including a Friday visit from Cazenovia and a Saturday trip to Cortland-Homer before games the following week against Oswego and Syracuse.
