In very different ways, the Liverpool and Cicero-North Syracuse ice hockey teams closed out their respective regular season and got ready for the Section III playoffs.
The Warriors got the good part of it, meeting Watertown IHC Wednesday night at Lysander Arena, and by a 7-1 margin, Liverpool climbed back to the .500 mark (10-10) and locked down third place in the Division I National Conference.
It didn’t start well, though, as the Cavaliers grabbed a 1-0 first-period lead. But the Warriors made adjustments during the intermission and, in the second period, dropped IHC with six unanswered goals in those 15 minutes.
Nick Northrup and Bobby Welch led the charge, each of them with two goals and one assist, while Tom Bianchi earned three assists. Tyler Garofalo had a goal and two assists, with Riley Thompson adding one goal and one assist. Donny Husted, Kyle Terzini and Joey Benedetto got one assist apiece as Steven Kozikoski blanked IHC after the first period and recorded 25 saves.
A night earlier, C-NS had a chance to go after Division I American Conference regular-season champion Syracuse and led early, but then got overwhelmed in a 10-2 defeat to the Cougars.
Goals by Matt Siegel and Sutter Donegan had C-NS up 2-1 through one period. To put it mildly, the Cougars did not take that well, answering with four unanswered goals in the second period and five more in the third period.
Sean Eccles was at the helm for Syracuse, scoring four times and adding an assist. Liam Barry and Nick Matro each had a goal and two assists to help overcome Chris Burger’s 33 saves. C-NS, after its quick start, could not get anything past Cougars goalie Sam Walsh, who had 20 saves.
These results mean that, late next week, C-NS, as the fourth-place finisher in the National Conference, will have a rematch with Syracuse (the American Conference regular-season champs) in the opening round of the sectional tournament, while Liverpool goes to Shove Park to face seven-time defending champion West Genesee.
