Lysander — If the opening act was any sort of indication, the Liverpool ice hockey team’s trek through the 2015-16 season could prove quite exciting. It’s just that the Warriors would like to win, too.
A wild season opener last Wednesday afternoon saw Liverpool face Auburn at Greater Baldwinsville Ice Arena. Twice, the Warriors led, but it could not hold on to either lead, and took a 6-5 defeat to the Maroons.
It was clear, from the outset, that both sides had a lot of work to do on the defensive side. The first period featured 14 shots from Liverpool and 10 from Auburn, with the Warriors’ Steve Kozikoski managing to keep the Maroons off the board.
Meanwhile, the Warriors seized a 2-0 lead on power-play and penalty-shot goals. An exchange of second-period tallies left it 3-1 before the Maroons scored twice in a 96-second span to pull even, 3-3.
Another exchange of goals left the two sides at 4-4 going to the third period, when Auburn’s Johnny Malandruccolo, who finished with two goals and three assists, put his team in front just 1:37 into that frame.
Less than four minutes later, Kaiden Tubbert converted his second goal (he also had a pair of assists) to make it 6-4, and though the Warriors immediately pulled back within one, it could not force overtime, despite a tremendous offensive performance that featured a lot of balance.
Five different Liverpool players – Tom Bianchi, Richie Hart, Kyle Terzini, Bobby Welch and Nate Dombroski – earned those five goals, with all of them, except Dombroski, adding an assist. Nick Northrup contributed one assist.
Liverpool would meet up with its neighbors from Baldwinsville, who are the defending Section III Division I champions, on Tuesday night and is home again on Thursday to face Cortland-Homer. Meanwhile, Cicero-North Syracuse opens its season Friday with its own visit from Auburn.