Throughout the early portion of the 2016-17 season, the CBA/Jamesville-DeWitt ice hockey team has shown an encouraging tendency to play at its highest level during the game’s latter stages.
So it was again when the Brothers, who were no. 13 in the first state Division II rankings of the winter, went to the McDonald Sports Complex to face Cortland-Homer last Tuesday night, the game deadlocked until a late surge helped the Brothers subdue the Golden Eagles 4-2.
Up 1-0 through one period, CBA/J-D saw that lead vanish when Jackson Bravo and Mike Turck both net second-period goals. The Brothers converted, too, which left it 2-2 with one period left.
Ultimately, the pressure put on by CBA/J-D took a toll, with 40 shots in the books that included two of them going in the net during the final period. Depth mattered, too, as four different players earned the Brothers’ four goals.
Ben McCreary, with a goal and two assists, led the attack. Zach Eber had one goal and one assist, with Lynch Raby and Jack Austin also converting. Tanner Coleman and Adam Carpenter had one assist apiece. Peyton Bowler would gain a third-period shutout and had 22 saves overall.
Now CBA/J-D set out on a road trip to the Rochester area for a tournament that got underway last Friday at Thomas Creek Ice Arena with the Brothers facing Rochester McQuaid and leading most of the way before stumbling late in a 3-2 overtime defeat to the Knights.
Both of CBA/J-D’s goals came in the first period, with Coleman and McCreary find the net and assisting on each other’s tallies to create a 2-1 lead. It stayed that way until the third period, when McQuaid pulled even and followed it up with a decisive OT goal, negating an amazing effort from Bowler, who made 38 saves.
Recovering in Saturday’s consolation game, the Brothers beat Bishop Timon (Buffalo) 5-1, with the defense again stingy early, but the attack a bit more potent as the Brothers grabbed a 4-0 lead through two periods, too much for the Tigers to overcome.
Coleman, with two goals, and Eber, with three assists, led an attack where 10 different players earned points. McCreary and Liam O’Malley earned the other goals, while Hari Nanthakumar got two assists. Raby, Austin, Jack Lester and Tom Caputo had one assist apiece as Bowler again proved stingy, stopping 24 of the 25 shots he faced.
Fayetteville-Manlius, who had made its own road trip the week before (dropping one-goal decisions to Lake Placid and Saranac Lake), now had to host Syracuse last Friday, the Cougars having scored double-digit shutouts three times this season, including a 13-0 destruction of Watertown IHC earlier in the week.
Try as it could, the Hornets could not keep the Cougars from smashing them, too, in an 11-1 decision where Britton Smith’s goal, assisted by Jason Dunnewald and Jason Tedeschi, prevented a shutout, but little else went right.
As it had done before this season, the Cougars asserted itself with five first-period goals, and doubled its total from there as Philip Zollo had his second hat trick in as many games, his three goals matched by Ryan Eccles and their scoring plays often set up by Matt Eccles, who had a season-best five assists. Delaney and Ryan Durand both scored twice, while Bryan O’Mara finished with three assists.
F-M is home all of this week, facing Mohawk Valley Wednesday and Auburn Friday night. Meanwhile, CBA/J-D plays two more road games, going to New Hartford Wednesday and down the road to Meachem Rink Friday night to face those same Syracuse Cougars that had just smothered F-M.
