Skaneateles — Buoyed by its 4-2 win over Auburn on Jan. 22, the Skaneateles boys ice hockey team remained at no. 2 in the state Division II rankings, trailing only St. Lawrence, and ahead of two other Section III sides – New Hartford at no. 4 and Cazenovia at no. 5.
None of that was going to get hurt by what took place last Tuesday night at Allyn Arena. Syracuse, carrying a 13-1 record and no. 4 state Division I ranking, arrived and kept the Lakers off the board until the latter stages of regulation, when Skaneateles rallied and rescued a 2-2 tie.
Syracuse knew that, to beat the Lakers, it had to play tremendous defense – which it did for the first two periods, withstanding all sorts of Skaneateles attacks and killing off a string of Skaneateles power plays.
For its part, the Cougars found scoring difficult, too, but broke through at the 12:21 mark of the first period when a well-positioned Sean Eccles tipped C.J. Walsh’s shot past Skaneateles goalie Kyle Oschner.
During the second period, the Lakers got three power plays and didn’t convert any of them. Worse yet, it saw the deficit grow to 2-0 on one of those power plays when Syracuse developed a two-on-one break short-handed and Philip Zollo, taking a pass from Eccles, beat Oschner with a shot from the point.
So the third period started 2-0 in the Cougars’ favor, and goalie Jake Polacek, on his way to 28 saves, was working on a shutout. But then Skaneateles picked up its pressure and, with 8:48 left, moved within one when Syracuse could not clear the puck and Raymond Falso fed it to Reece Eddy, who scored.
Less that two minutes later, the Cougars were caught, Falso delivering the tying goal on a shot from the slot, with Reggie Buell and Marc Welch earning assists. From there, Syracuse settled down and traded opportunities with Skaneateles through the rest of regulation and the overtime period, but neither would win it, Oschner finishing with 29 saves, one more than Polacek.
continued — It proved easier for Skaneateles on Friday night, when it hosted Oswego and did all of its damage early in a 5-0 shutout of the Buccaneers, a far cry from the tough 3-2 win the Lakers attained at Crisafulli Rink in early December.
In fact, Skaneateles matched that goal total in the first period alone, with one goal each from the trio of Eddy, Falso and Buell, in that order. But the Lakers didn’t let up there, tacking on two more goals late in the second period as Welch and Matt Benson converted.
Nothing more was added, but it wasn’t needed, either. Skaneateles took 41 shots to Oswego’s 16, with Bennett Morse stopping each of the Bucs’ 16 shots to earn the shutout as Buell got two assists and Falso, Eddy, Welch, Sam Clymer and Jacob Patalino earned one assist apiece.
On Tuesday night, Skaneateles has another showdown with CBA/Jamesville-DeWitt, this time at Onondaga Nation Arena, before returning home Friday and attempting to avenge its Dec. 15 defeat to Clinton.
The CBA/J-D clash has some added intrigue since the Brothers ripped New Hartford 5-1 last Friday at Nedrow and are looking to get even for a 4-0 shutout loss at Allyn Arena earlier this season. Only a win locks up the outright American Conference regular-season title for Skaneateles.
