An important road test awaited the CBA/Jamesville-DeWitt ice hockey team when it went east to face Division II National Conference leader Whitesboro last Wednesday night, a game that turned into a tense defensive struggle that the Brothers could not quite claim as it lost, 2-1, to the Warriors.

Neither team got on the board until the second period, when Whitesboro’s Jacob Hyer twice put shots past Peyton Bowler, assists credited to Louden Johnson, Bryce Gnatek and Brandon Webb.

Other than that, Bowler stopped everything he faced, totaling up to 30 saves. This gave CBA/J-D a chance to rally, as in the third period Doug DeMarche scored off feeds from Lynch Raby and Jack Lester, but it could not get anything else past Warriors goalie Jacob Domagal, who made 24 saves.

Then the Brothers returned east for Friday night’s game against Clinton. On the historic ice at Clinton Arena, CBA/J-D again was stingy – and again could not reward its defensive efforts as those other Warriors prevailed by a 2-0 margin.

The game was still 0-0 when Clinton struck twice in the second period, Danny Burke and Zane Monaghan getting the goals and assists credited to Connor Frank, Mark Novak, T.J. Eisenbeck and Jeremy Hearn.

Bowler would record 36 saves, but the Brothers rarely relieved the pressure off him, only taking 15 shots all night as Warriors goaltender Brian Saunders stopped each of them and preserved his shutout.

When its week started, Fayetteville-Manlius was on home ice at Cicero Twin Rinks, but it caught powerful West Genesee at the wrong time last Monday afternoon, never able to get into the argument in a 7-0 defeat to the Wildcats.

Back on Jan. 13, WG, ranked no. 2 in the state time, lost on its home ice at Shove Park to state no. 8-ranked Syracuse 3-2, and that did not sit well with the Wildcats, who took out its displeasure on F-M by scoring all of its goals in the first two periods.

The Hornets only managed 11 shots all afternoon, and were it not for James Kaffenberger’s 39 saves, it may have got more lopsided. WG saw Dan Colabufo gain three goals for a hat trick, adding an assist, while Pat McDonald and Jay Considine each piled up four assists, McDonald adding a goal.

Against Watertown IHC on Thursday night, F-M needed a win to all but secure a Section III playoff berth. The Hornets got it, defeating the Cavaliers 4-2 to improve to 3-7 in league competition and 4-12-1 overall.

They were scoreless until the second period, when F-M bolted to a 3-0 lead and Tommy Guilfoil would lead them, eventually getting a three-goal hat trick as Britton Smith earned the other goal.

Will Duncanson, Jason Dunnewold, Chris Hurley and Karl Farber had one assist apiece. Brandon Heyman, taking his turn in goal, stopped 29 of the 31 IHC shots he faced and maintaining his shutout until the third period, when Jon Monnat scored twice for the Cavaliers.

With just three games left in the regular season, F-M would practice most of this week and host Rome Free Academy on Friday at the Twin Rinks, while CBA/J-D is off until Jan. 31 and its trip to Allyn Arena to face defending Section III Division II champion Skaneateles, whom it lost to 5-3 back on Dec. 9 in Nedrow.