Glory and humility can sometimes arrive in the same package.
On the very same Tuesday that the Skaneateles ice hockey team found out that it sat top the first state Division II rankings of the season, the Lakers ventured east, to Clinton, and late that evening got caught by the revitalized Warriors in a 4-2 defeat.
There was every reason to think that Skaneateles would keep rolling. It had won its first four games of the season, and had just shut out CBA/Jamesville-DeWitt 4-0 in its Dec. 11 home opener at Allyn Arena, proving that a significant gap now existed between the two sides that had battled for sectional and state Division II supremacy a year ago.
Meanwhile, Clinton, a one-time power who won four state championships from 1995 to 2006, had fallen off in recent years, only to come back to prominence early this season, starting 4-1-1, including a perfect 4-0 mark in the Division II American Conference.
Thus, the game between the Lakers and Warriors at historic Clinton Arena was for first place in the league, and for two periods the defenses dominated, the only goal coming from Clinton’s Garrett Frank as he converted in the first period.
So it went to the third period 1-0, and Skaneateles, thwarted to that point, finally put a couple of shots past Warriors goalie Brian Saunders as Raymond Falso and Reggie Buell netted the goals, with Dimitris Christou, Matt Benson and Reece Eddy earning assists.
However, Clinton did even better, seeing Tyler Frank, Matt Martini and Mike Teesdale all find the net, while Steven Calidonna got two assists and John Conway joined Teesdale with one assist apiece. All of this overcame the 24 combined saves from Lakers goalies Kyle Oschner and Bennett Morse.
The win increased Clinton’s American Conference lead, and left Skaneateles having to wait for a rematch with the Warriors until Feb. 5 at Allyn Arena. In the meantime, Skaneateles hosts Cortland-Homer Friday and then takes a 12-day break, not resuming action until Dec. 30 at Ithaca.
