CBA/Jamesville-DeWitt and Skaneateles, two ice hockey programs with state championships in their recent history (2013 for the Brothers, 2015 for the Lakers), are gathering again in a big arena in Central New York with big stakes.
Only now it isn’t at Utica Memorial Auditorium, where the two sides squared off so many times in both the Section III and state tournaments. Instead, it’s the Syracuse War Memorial that will serve as the stage with the Brothers and Lakers battling for a sectional title.
In order to get that shot at Skaneateles, CBA/J-D first had to navigate through Wednesday night’s sectional semifinal against Cortland-Homer at Onondaga Nation Arena, an exciting, back-and-forth affair where the Brothers never felt safe until the final minutes, when it put away a 5-3 victory over the Golden Eagles.
Having knocked off Division II National Conference regular-season champion Whitesboro 1-0 in the opening round Feb. 17, Cortland-Homer now took aim at a CBA/J-D side it lost to twice during the season, the Brothers prevailing 4-2 on Dec. 13 and then pulling out a 1-0 overtime win over the Golden Eagles on Jan. 31 at Nedrow.
There would be plenty of goals in regulation here, starting late in the first period when Connor Kinahan scored at the 12:17 mark. Not long after, Cortland-Homer got even, 1-1, with Cooper Swartout’s goal, but just before the period ended Ben McCreary got loose on a breakaway and put one past Golden Eagles goalie Brandon Ludwig.
So the Brothers went to the second period up 2-1, where it stayed that way until Tanner Coleman, off a feed from McCreary, ripped in a slap shot at the nine-minute mark. Again, Cortland-Homer answered, Swartout assisting on Ben Gravel’s goal and Gravel converting again minutes later to tie it, 3-3.
To this point, Lynch Raby had proven quiet, but that changed when he netted the go-ahead goal late in the second period, assisted by Coleman. Then, as the game settled down, Raby returned midway through the third period to put home an insurance goal with 7:25 left.
That proved too much for the Golden Eagles to overcome, as it couldn’t capitalize on a four-minute power play in the final period, nor get any other shot past Peyton Bowler, who finished the night with 33 saves, exactly the same total as Ludwig.
While that was going on, Skaneateles won its semifinal 4-0 over Oswego, not scoring until late in the second period, but then making up for it as Matt Benson netted two goals, with single tallies going to Raymond Falson and Dimitris Christou.
CBA/J-D will have reason to think it can dethrone the reigning sectional champions, since it won at Skaneateles 3-2 Jan. 31 in a game marked by Bowler’s 40 saves and McCreary’s third-period natural hat trick.
