With 2016 less than 48 hours old, the Skaneateles boys ice hockey team faced an important examination from its namesakes.
The test took place Saturday at the Morrisville State IcePlex, where Skaneateles, no. 4 in the latest state Division II rankings, would collide with state no. 9-ranked Cazenovia, who was riding a three-game win streak that included a massive comeback win at Auburn Dec. 18 and a subsequent first-place finish in the Cortland-Homer Tournament.
When it was needed, Skaneateles put together its best road performance since the Rochester McQuaid Tournament, from big point production by Reggie Buell and Raymond Falso to an effective defense that mostly shut down that other group of Lakers on the way to a 5-1 victory.
Much of the damage was rendered in the second period. By that point, Skaneateles already had a 1-0 lead, but it tacked on two more goals, one of them short-handed, and answered late in the period after Alex Marshall put Cazenovia on the board.
Through it all, Buell proved tough to stop, gaining a three-goal hat trick to go with an assist. Often, the passes to Buell came from Falso, who earned three assists to go with his lone tally.
Jacob Patalino produced the other Skaneateles goal, while Reece Eddy earned a pair of assists and Devin Callahan got an assist, too. Bennett Morse played the entire game in the net and stopped 19 of the 20 shots he faced, anchoring a defense that never let Cazenovia put together any sort of sustained pressure.
Before all this, Skaneateles concluded the 2015 portion of its schedule by venturing to Ithaca last Wednesday afternoon and, again, struggling in a road game, though it did hang on to beat the Little Red 3-2.
Part of it was rust. The Lakers had not played a game in 12 days, since shutting out Cortland-Homer 7-0 on Dec. 18, and the combination of rest and holiday festivities may have taken a slight edge off Skaneateles.
Yet just like in games at Oswego (where it also pulled out a 3-2 decision) and at Clinton (where it lost 4-2), the Lakers had difficulties on hostile ice, unable to get away even after it built up a 3-1 lead in the first two periods, with two of the goals coming from Falso. Buell also found the net as Callahan and Patalino had two assists apiece.
Down the stretch, the Skaneateles defense got tested, but its answer came from blocking all kinds of Ithaca shots. Combined, Morse and Kyle Oschner only had to make nine saves,
Another big game awaited on Tuesday when the Lakers visited Casey Park for its lone regular-season meeting against archrival Auburn, a prelude to the weekend’s Duke Schneider Memorial Tournament where Skaneateles takes on John Jay-Cross River Friday night and Pelham on Saturday afternoon.
