A whole lot had taken place for the Skaneateles boys ice hockey team before it even got to play one shift in front of its home crowd at Allyn Arena.
The Lakers had played four times, splitting those games, but had recovered from defeats to Auburn and West Genesee with back-to-back wins as its lineup slowly returned to full strength.
In the last of these four road games, Skaneateles went to Crisafulli Rink, better known as “The Fort”, for last Tuesday’s clash with Oswego, and a hat trick from Ryan Gick keyed a 6-2 victory over the Buccaneers.
The Lakers bolted out to a 2-0 advantage through one period. Then it pulled further away as Gick accumulated his three goals, tacking on an assist.
Luke Lynn had three assists to aid in Gick’s effort. Further help came from Bauer Morrissey, Owen Van Holtz and Colin Weeks, each of whom finished with single goals. Morrissey added an assist as Matt Leveroni, Patrick Moore and Vincent Williams also got assists.
Finally, the home crowd got to see Skaneateles on Thursday night as it welcomed its fellow Lakers from Cazenovia, but didn’t provide too warm of a welcome as Skaneateles won its third in a row, cruising to a 6-1 decision.
Before the game was 60 seconds old, Skaneateles had the lead thanks to Lynn’s goal, assisted by Morrissey. Van Holtz converted four minutes later, and then scored again late in the period to make it 3-0.
That torrid pace could not be maintained, and in the second period Trey Schug’s goal, assisted by Jack Bookbinder, got Cazenovia on the board, briefly making home fans worry.
Those concerns were eased when Gick got on the board early in the third period. Morrissey and Charlie Russell tacked on goals as Leveroni joined Morrissey and Lynn in getting two assists apiece. Adam Casper had a strong game in goal, stopping 21 of the 22 shots he faced.
Another road game at Whitesboro next Tuesday precedes the Lakers’ home battle with CBA/Jamesville-DeWitt on Dec. 15.
