When the Liverpool ice hockey team travels to the Twin Rinks Monday night to take on archrival Cicero-North Syracuse, it does so having already received a close-up look a the reigning Section III Division I champions heavily favored to win it all again.
It was the Warriors against state no. 3-ranked West Genesee at Lysander Arena, and for two periods of the game, Liverpool actually stayed with in range– but a lopsided second period made all the difference for the Wildcats, who prevailed 9-3.
Going into the second period, the Warriors already trailed 2-0, but WG proceeded to make it far worse, knocking in seven goals during those 15 minutes as Dan Colabufo worked his total to four goals and two assists, Jay Considine amassed six assists and Ryan Smith added four assists.
Liverpool did managed to blank WG in the final period as Tyler Dorval netted two of his team’s three goals and Tommy Bianchi had the other, plus an assist. In the net, goaltender Sebastian Jesmore finished with 28 saves.
This led to Friday’s game against Baldwinsville, a clash between the two high school programs that share the Lysander facility. Like so many of their previous battles, it proved tight and physical, but the Warriors could not get on the board in a 3-0 defeat to the Bees.
Determined to assert itself on the defensive side, the Warriors played an inspired first period where it kept B’ville off the board and hit plenty. But the Bees weathered all this and, in the second period, grabbed a 2-0 lead, tacking on an insurance goal and watching Alex Rose stop all 26 shots he faced.
All of this negated a fabulous effort by Jesmore, who recorded 36 saves. B’ville Josh Perez produced a goal and assist, with Connor Carhart and Alex Schmidt also earning goals. Ryan Gebhardt, Jacob Abbey and Chris Speelman got credit for assists.
Back from a road trip where it beat Canton but dropped a thriller to Potsdam, the Cicero-North Syracuse ice hockey team continued to put the puck in the net, but had a difficult time keeping the opposition from doing the same.
During Tuesday night’s visit to Kennedy Arena, the Northstars and Rome Free Academy engaged in a third-period shoot-out that included seven total goals, only the Black Knights, led by Ethan Bielby and Gino DeBlasis, had more of them to edge C-NS 6-5.
Given where it ended up, it was remarkable that, during the first two periods, both sides had a host of opportunities, yet only scored once apiece in both frames, which made it 2-2 going to the final period.
Then the exchange began. The Northstars would connect three times, seeing Logan Field work his total to two goals and one assist as Matt Cramer got a goal and assist. Gehrig Sarosy and Josh Ludden had the other goals, with Jacob Denbleyker and Zach Matyasik earning two assists apiece.
All of this wasn’t enough, though, as RFA managed to put four shots past Jack Doren, all of them from the sticks of Bielby and DeBlasis, who each would finish with three-goal hat tricks, plus two assists apiece, while linemate Derrick Miller fed them with four assists. Black Knights goalie Ethan Siderine’s 24 saves proved important.
In many ways, this game reflected what happened at Potsdam. Trailing 2-0 through one period, C-NS netted four goals in the second period, only to have the Sandstoners also score four times and hang on despite Denbleyker and Logan Ungelich netting two goals apiece and Field getting a goal and two assists. Cramer added two assists.
Now with a two-game skid, C-NS looks to break it against Liverpool at the Twin Rinks. Then both sides rest until a handful of games during the holiday break.
