A hockey hat trick is a special occasion that, in the professional ranks, causes fans to throw hats on the ice, at least when a player from the home team accomplishes this feat.
So what is done when a player averages a hat trick every night?
That is the question Skaneateles forward Raymond Falso is starting to ask after posting 12 goals in his first four games, including three hat tricks.
It was capped by Falso’s one-man show in Friday night’s 5-3 victory by the Lakers over CBA/Jamesville-DeWitt at Onondaga Nation Arena in Nedrow where he scored four times and assisted on the other goal.
This was the first Skaneateles road game of the season, having scored 26 times in home wins over Fulton, Victor and Oswego, the latter of them a 7-1 decision on Tuesday night at Allyn Arena where Falso piled up three goals and three assists.
Now the Lakers were facing a CBA/J-D side off to its own 2-0 start thanks to wins over Clinton and Ithaca. And with a large home crowd on hand, the Brothers seized a 1-0 lead on Skaneateles when Doug DeMarche scored in the first period.
For the most part, CBA/J-D’s defense did a solid job containing the Lakers in the early going but the first period still ended 1-1 when Falso put in the tying goal.
That momentum carried over into the second period, when Falso’s second goal gave Skaneateles the lead for good. Minutes later, Falso’s pass set up Dimitris Christou for a goal that made it 3-1, and before the period was done, Falso had struck again for his third goal of the night.
With Falso’s latest hat trick in the books, the Lakers took a 4-1 edge to the third period, and Falso tacked on a fourth goal to help Skaneateles withstand a late CBA/J-D push that included goals from Ben McCreary and Adam Carpenter. Christou and Reggie Buell both earned two assists as Patrick Major earned a single assist as Brothers goalie Peyton Bowler finished with 31 saves.
Two nights earlier, at Allyn Arena, Skaneateles hosted Oswego, and struck early against the Buccaneers maintaining that pressure throughout the night. In fact, it only required 47 seconds for Matt Benson to put in the game’s first goal. When Matt Leveroni converted on a shot from the point before the five-minute mark to make it 2-0, Oswego switched goalies, taking out Jarrett Dudley for Sam LaFond.
That worked for a while, and Oswego closed within 2-1 late in the first period on Nick Chalifoux’s breakaway goal, only to have Christou answer with 12.8 seconds left in the period to restore the earlier margin, a mark from which the Bucs never recovered.
Steadily adding to its margin, the Lakers turned to Falso, with two of his goals coming in the third period to add to a second-period tally, and add three assists. Buell and Major both matched Falso’s three-assist output, while Ryan Gick, Adam Lupo and Nick Rottger got single assists. Zach Wilhoit absorbed occasional bouts of pressure, stopping 19 of the 20 Oswego shots he faced.
Skaneateles comes back to Allyn Arena Tuesday night to host Clinton before a Friday-night trip to face Cortland-Homer.
