In order to get to the season’s most anticipated game at Shove Park on Friday night, the West Genesee and Syracuse ice hockey teams each had to navigate through all kinds of preliminaries in the previous two weeks.
It all dated back to Dec. 29. While the Cougars rested during the week of the holiday break, the Wildcats played twice, topping Canton 5-1 at home, and then going to the Twin Rinks and recording a 7-1 victory over Cicero-North Syracuse.
Steadily, the Wildcats built a 5-0 lead on the Northstars through two periods, and had nine different players net at least one point. Jay Considine, with two goals and two assists, led the way, while Marshall Winn had two goals and one assist and Pat McDonald recorded three assists.
Chris Peer had a goal and assist to lead the next group, closely followed by Dan Colabufo and Tim Winn, who also found the net. Dan Holzhauer, Ryan Washo and Ryan Smith picked up one assist apiece.
As it turned out, C-NS’s next game was against Syracuse at Meachem Rink. The Cougars, having moved up to no. 9 in the state rankings returned from a 10-day rest last Tuesday night and faced real late-game drama before taking over to beat the Northstars 5-1.
Gehrig Sarosy scored in the first period to put C-NS up, 1-0. It stayed that way until Syracuse pulled even in the second period and continued to attack on Northstars goalie Jack Doren, who finished the night with 34 saves.
That cumulative pressure led to a four-goal third-period Cougars surge, anchored by Bryan O’Mara, who earned four assists. Philip Zollo scored twice, with Matt Eccles getting a goal and two assists. Ryan Eccles added one goal and one assist as C.J. Walsh picked up the other goal.
Then Syracuse went to the Twin Rinks for the C-NS Optimist Tournament and an opening-round game Friday against CBA/Jamesville-DeWitt, the same side it beat on Dec. 23. Here, the Cougars won again, mostly leaning on its defense to smother the Brothers 3-0 as one goal in each period proved enough.
Syracuse’s defense held CBA/J-D to 10 shots, all stopped by Jake Polacek. Zollo and Ryan Eccles both had one goal and one assist, with Matt Eccles getting the other goal as O’Mara picked up two assists and Jack Grooms got an assist, too. Brothers goalie Peyton Bowler was sensational, making 38 saves to keep his team close most of the way.
Since C-NS beat Oswego 6-3 in the other opening-round game, Saturday’s final was a rematch of the game between the Cougars and Northstars earlier in the week, and it nearly mirrored the first encounter as Syracuse prevailed 6-2.
Again, the Cougars trailed, 1-0, after one period, and only did enough to tie it, 2-2 despite dominating the flow of play, eventually out-shooting C-NS 44-9. In the third period, Syracuse continued to camp out in the Northstars’ end and didn’t let up until it had recorded four consecutive goals, exactly what had taken place earlier in the week.
With two goals and one assist, Ryan Eccles led a well-balanced attack that had O’Mara, Nate Frye, Ryan Evanchak and Matt Eccles also find the net. Zollo, Andrew Corning and Joe Lamson joined O’Mara in earning single assists. It took 38 saves from Northstars goalie Jack Doren to keep things close.
While all this was going on, West Genesee had its own busy slate, including last Tuesday’s game at Fulton, which turned into a serious scare before Considine helped the Wildcats edge past the Red Raiders 2-1.
A scoreless first period saw WG earn its share its chances, only to get stymied by Fulton goalie Spencer Evans, who was on his way to a 27-save night. It took Considine netting one goal and assisting on the other, by Dan Colabufo, in the game’s latter stages to pull it out as McDonald added an assist.
Evan Beckwith’s third-period goal got Fulton on the board, yet that was the only time WG’s defense bent. Otherwise, it again limited the shots from the Red Raiders as Sammy Colabufo only had to make 14 saves.
Back home at Shove Park on Saturday night, WG got a visit from Saratoga Springs (Section II), the same team it beat 5-1 last March in the state Division I semifinals at Buffalo’s HarborCenter.
Here, the stakes were a lot smaller, but the Wildcats didn’t take it lightly, prevailing 5-2 in a game where it led, 2-1, after one period, but didn’t really put Saratoga away until it scored twice early in the third period.
Dan Colabufo went to the forefront with a three-goal hat trick, often aided by Considine and McDonald, who got three assists. Garrett Schnorr and Timmy Winn had the other goals, with assists credited to Ryan Washo, Ryan Smith and Marshall Winn. Not to be outdone by his brother, Sammy Colabufo stopped 20 of the 22 Saratoga shots he faced.
