This Friday night at 7 p.m., the Cazenovia ice hockey team will make its way into the Section III Division II playoffs, competing on home ice at the Morrisville State IcePlex.
But the Lakers will not have an easy task in front of them.
For the opening-round game pits Cazenovia, who finished second in the Division II National Conference with an 8-5 league record (11-8-1 overall), against defending sectional champion Auburn, who went 14-6, but settled for third place in the American Conference behind Skaneateles and CBA/Jamesville-DeWitt.
To advance, the Lakers will have to reverse its result from Jan. 13, when Auburn came to the IcePlex and beat Cazenovia 5-2 in the midst of a mid-season nine-game win streak.
Before all this, Cazenovia had to play twice more in the last week of the regular season, having wrapped up second place in the League Feb. 6 with its 4-2 win at Clinton.
Going to Crisafulli Rink (also known as “The Fort”) last Tuesday night, the Lakers took on Oswego, and completed a regular-season sweep of the Buccaneers, prevailing 4-3 to go with the 3-2 decision it claimed at the IcePlex back on Dec. 19.
Cameron Fry’s work in goal proved crucial, as he turned back 26 of the 29 Buccaneers shots he faced and made sure Cazenovia stayed out in front.
On the offensive side, Jake Stowell led the way, scoring twice, while Adam Race and Colin McGaugh earned the other goals. Brendan Whalen finished with a pair of assists.
Then, in a non-league game Saturday against Mohawk Valley in the IcePlex, the Lakers prevailed again, rolling past the Raiders 5-1.
What sparked Cazenovia was Whalen’s short-handed goal midway through the first period. It stayed 1-0 until the 7:21 mark of the second period, when the Lakers had power and it was McGaugh’s turn to convert.
Then Cole Willard took over. Quiet so far during the week, his goal at the 10:35 mark of the second period made it 3-0 and, barely two minutes later, Willard converted again.
The Lakers nursed the shutout through most of the third period, extending the margin to 5-0 when Nate Wendel scored on a penalty shot with 2:12 left. Ryan McCann had 26 saves, only surrendering a goal when the Raiders’ Anthon Fox converted with 15.8 seconds left in the game.
