Never mind the 6-0 record and no. 2 state ranking owned by one side and the 3-3 record owned by the other side – any time Skaneateles and Auburn gathers for ice hockey, the thrills tend to follow.
In this case, the neighborhood clash Wednesday night at Casey Park Rink centered around the scary skills of Raymond Falso, who pulled the Lakers out of a potential mid-game crisis and, with his five goals, pushed them to a 7-4 victory over the Maroons.
All through his team’s season-opening six-game win streak, Falso had proved close to unstoppable, earning hat tricks on four occasions. But he never was more important than on this night.
It all started in fairly calm and normal fashion for Skaneateles, who silenced the Auburn home crowd 3:21 into the first period with Reggie Buell’s goal, assisted by Ryan Gick. Falso got on the board at the 12:32 mark to make it 2-0.
For the most part, Lakers goalie Zach Wilhoit didn’t have to stress much in the opening period – until a covered puck in the crease gave Auburn a penalty shot. John Malandruccolo took the shot – and Wilhoit stopped it.
But Malandruccolo made up for it early in the second period, netting two goals in a span of less than 60 seconds to pull Auburn even, 2-2. All that did, though, was lead Falso to produce a natural hat trick that was remarkable even by his own standards.
With 5:32 left in the second peroid, Falso hit on his second goal. When Jake Morin answered within 68 seconds to tie it again, 3-3, Falso took the ensuing face-off and scored again just eight seconds later.
That put Skanetaeles ahead for good, but Falso got loose on a breakaway and scored again to make it 5-3. Those three Falso goals came less than 90 seconds apart.
To its credit, the Maroons refused to go away, Morin netting his second goal with 8:05 left. That one-goal margin endured only until Falso converted his fifth goal on a wrist shot from the point a minute later. Patrick Major converted on a one-timer in the waning minutes.
Through it all, Dimitris Christou picked up a pair of assists, while single assists were credited to Gick, Matt Benson and Josh McCabe. Wilholt’s penalty-shot stop was one of 23 saves he made on the night as Auburn’s Evan Ryan made 31 saves and Malandruccolo assisted on both of Morin’s goals.
Back home at Allyn Arena Friday night, Skaneateles made it eight wins in a row, beating Ithaca 8-3, though it was tight for a while.
A pair of Little Red goals cut the Lakers’ lead to 3-2 going to the third period, but once more the potent Skaneateles attack proved too much, scoring five times in those final 15 minutes.
Falso had yet another hat trick, though he proved more generous by tacking on four assists to go with his three goals. Benson scored twice, adding an assist, while Gick also had two goals. Christou got one goal and one assist as Major, Matt Leveroni, Adam Lupo and Nick Rottger got one assist apiece.
With its 8-0 mark, Skaneateles would rest during the holiday break, and resume its season Jan. 3 against Cazenovia before taking on John Jay and Pelham (who was atop the latest state Division II rankings) Jan. 6 and 7 as part of the Duke Schneider Memorial Tournament.
