The way the Section III Division I ice hockey playoff bracket lined up, if Liverpool and Cicero-North Syracuse could pull off massive surprises in their respective first-round games, the rivals would get a shot at each other in the semifinals.
Neither team would make it through, though. The Warriors were upended by state no.3-ranked Syracuse for the second time in as many weeks in a 7-2 decision at Meachem Rink, while the Northstars were humbled at Lysander Arena in a 3-0 defeat to Baldwinsville.
First came Liverpool’s trip to Syracuse. The Cougars had beaten the Warriors 9-0 just 10 days earlier at Lysander Arena. And while the playoff rematch was a bit closer, Syracuse was never in any serious danger, and O’Mara made sure of it.
Syracuse gave the Warriors an immediate psychological blow in the first period when, on a Liverpool power play, O’Mara broke free to the other end and put a high shot past Warriors goalie Sebastian Jesmore. At even strength, O’Mara struck again later in the period off a feed from Philip Zollo to make it 2-0.
Bobby Welch’s goal got Liverpool on the board early in the second period, but then O’Mara returned to earn his third goal, this time with Matt Eccles joining Zollo in earning assists.
Andrew Hodgens scored to make it 4-1 going to the third period, but any doubts about the outcome were erased when Matt Eccles struck for back-to-back goals, one of them assisted by his brother, Ryan. Even when Tyler Dorval scored for the Warriors with 2:39 left, Matt Frye answered less than a minute later.
Matt Goddard was credited with two assists as Jesmore shared time in goal with Adam Bleiweiss, the pair combining for 34 saves. By contrast, Syracuse goalie Jake Polacek only had to make nine saves as the Cougars controlled the puck most of the way and Liverpool’s season ended with a 9-11 mark.
Just 24 hours later, at Lysander, C-NS took its playoff turn, trying to upend a Baldwinsville side that blanked them 5-0 at the Twin Rinks on Jan. 18 and had gone 5-1 since. Here, goalie Jack Doren would have a special performance, but the Northstars again were shut out.
In that first encounter, B’ville scored three times in the first period to seize control and then watched its goalie, Alex Rose, stop all 22 of the C-NS shots he faced. Now, in the sectional rematch, the Bees again got a quick early outburst as, 16 seconds apart, Connor Carhart’s passes set up two goals, one by Josh Racha, the other by Ben Dwyer as Chris Speelman also assisted on the first tally.
Holding a 2-0 lead going to the second period, B’ville extended it when Ryan Gebhardt, unassisted, put one past Jack Doren at the 10:27 mark. From that point forward, Doren stopped everything thrown at him and recorded 37 saves overall.
Meanwhile, C-NS ended up with the same number of shots it had during that first meeting with the Bees. Once more, Rose turned them back with 22 saves, and the Northstars’ season concluded with a record of 10-10-1.
