Skaneateles — All of the forces, personal and otherwise, lined up at just the right time – or wrong time to keep the Skaneateles girls ice hockey team from claiming the Section III championship.
More than anything else, though, it was the singular presence of Alexandria Bay that was responsible, leaning on its defense to turn away the Lakers and prevail, 2-0, in Saturday’s sectional title game at Allyn Arena.
“We played fairly well,” said Skaneateles head coach Jay Kirk. “But Alex Bay was amazing. They were the better team.”
Particularly remarkable was the effort of Islanders goaltender Kayla McCabe, who stopped all 24 Lakers shots she faced, 19 of them in the first two periods, and inspired her fellow Alex Bay defenders, too.
Normally, said Kirk, Skaneateles averages around 40 shots a game and nabs a handful of goals per night through rebounds, but here, it didn’t get second shots against McCabe, and the Islanders’ back line blocked numerous other shots, especially in the third period.
In some way, though, the roots of this defeat were planted earlier in the week. Originally, the four-team sectional tournament was supposed to include Skaneateles, the top seed, hosting Ithaca as Alex Bay took on Clinton.
As the Islanders were shutting out the Warriors 3-0, the Lakers arrived at Schneider Rink – only to find out, at the last minute, that Ithaca did not have enough players available, so the game was canceled and the game forfeited to Skaneateles.
“That was a difficult situation,” said Kirk, and though he would not use that cancellation as an excuse for what happened against Alex Bay, he did admit that it took the Lakers out of its rhythm.
Also, Skaneateles had only played the Islanders once in the regular season, way back on Nov. 24. The Lakers prevailed at that time, 3-1, but a scheduled rematch was snowed out twice and eventually canceled because it didn’t affect the final sectional pairings.
continued — Now, more than two months after they first saw each other, the Lakers and Islanders met again with the sectional title at stake, and played through a fast-paced first period, each side taking nine shots, but neither of them finding the net.
Forced to kill a pair of penalties early in the second period, Skaneateles did so, getting more stops from goalie Maria McLean and blocked shots from Caroline McGuigan.
But at the 5:12 mark of the period, the Islanders, back at even strength, took a 1-0 lead when Miranda Kolb, stationed right next to the net, lifted the puck past McLean’s right shoulder and into the net.
A pivotal moment came a few minutes later. Skaneateles twice got point-blank looks from Alison Weiss, but McCabe snared her wrist shots, keeping Alex Bay in front.
Then, at the 11:37 mark, the Islanders’ lead doubled when Sydney Aubertine flashed open at the point and crushed a wrist shot to nearly the same spot as Kolb’s first goal.
Skaneateles attacked hard at the start of the third period, but after McCabe made two more terrific stops, Alex Bay’s defenders took over from there, rarely letting the Lakers get close.
Disappointed as Skaneateles was for having a 13-4 season end short of a return to the state tournament, it still could look back on all it accomplished this winter, said Kirk.
“This is going to sting for a bit,” he said. “But hopefully they will focus on the accomplishments. We’ve had a great season.”
