Getting to the final weekend of the season in ice hockey is something Skaneateles knows well. But for Syracuse, this is something new and exciting.
Both the Lakers and Cougars are on their way to the state “Frozen Four” in their respective divisions after victories on home ice in their respective regional finals on Saturday night.
At Allyn Arena, Skaneateles, who has sat atop the state Division II rankings all season, shut out Section VI champion Grand Island 4-0, while at Meachem Rink Syracuse held off Section V champion Pittsford 2-1 to earn the combined program the Division I regional championship.
In many ways, these games reflected the Section III finals earlier in the week, in that the Lakers never were in serious danger and that the Cougars had to pull out a close one. But they were far from replicas.
For one thing, Skaneateles never got a chance to repeat the flurry of three goals in less than three minutes that buried Cortland-Homer.
Instead, it possessed the puck against Grand Island and ground them into frustration, even though it wasn’t until late in the first period that the Lakers went in front.
Ryan Gick, who scored twice in the sectional final, found the net again off what he said was a set play, Lance Lynn gaining possession of the faceoff and passing right to Gick, whose wrist shot whipped past Vikings goalie Nate Stroh.
Only once did Grand Island sustain any pressure, early in the second period, but the stingy Lakers’ defense turned everything away, and at the 4:50 mark Jack Henry scored to make it 2-0, again with Gick earning the assist.
Any chance the Vikings had dissolved early in the third period in a sequence where Adam Casper, again getting the start in goal, stopped Grand Island’s Josh Conta point-blank, keeping the Vikings from cutting the margin to one, and seconds later Garrett Krieger made it 3-0 with a wrist shot off passes from Charlie Major and Charlie Russell.
Krieger and Henry assisted on Russell’s goal late in the game amid a string of penalties that marred the conclusion, but could not prevent the Lakers from joyfully celebrating on home ice its first regional title since 2016.
Meanwhile, the first-ever state Division I playoff game at Meachem Rink saw Syracuse welcome Pittsford. Both sides had got there through lengthy battles, whether it was the Cougars’ four-overtime win over West Genesee to Pittsford’s own double-OT win over Fairport in the Section V final.
Perhaps knowing that its energy might run out late, and maybe glad that it only had to deal with 15-minute periods in the state tournament, after the 17-minute periods it played during the Section III slate, Syracuse attacked hard from the outset.
The Cougars took a 1-0 lead as Ryan Durand got open and fired home the go-ahead goal. Then, at the 12:11 mark of the first period, that margin doubled as Nate Frye finished off a breakaway.
For the rest of the night, Pittsford goaltender Alex Tidd turned away all of Syracuse’s chances, giving the Panthers ample time to try and catch up.
Zach Quinton did score in the second period to reduce the Cougars’ margin to one, but for the rest of the game Syracuse’s defense held up in the face of every Pittsford charge, Alex Moreno stopping 21 of 22 shots he faced.
In this case, no OT was required as Syracuse joined Skaneateles in securing its place in next weekend’s state championship festivities at Buffalo’s HarborCenter.
The Lakers play its Division II state semifinal next Saturday at 11:45 a.m. against Webster Thomas (Section V), with the winner to get John Jay-Cross River (Section I) or Queensbury (Section II) in the title game Sunday at noon.
Then, in Division I, Syracuse goes up against Orchard Park (Section VI) at 4:30 following the first semifinal between Suffern (Section I) and Canton (Section X), with the state final set for Sunday at 3 p.m.
