Winless in its first three games, the Fayetteville-Manlius ice hockey team looked to turn it around, and did so with a sweep of in a weekend road trip that started last Friday at Saranac Lake with the Hornets roaring to a 5-2 victory.
A three-goal second period broke a close game open, F-M seeing Ben Hammond and Sam Dichristina each pick up two goals and one assist as Will Duncanson fed them with three assists. Colin Debejian had the other goal as Jackson Denton notched two assists and Jason Tedeschi also had an assist.
Then came Saturday’s game against Lake Placid, where the Hornets managed to double its production from the day before and get to double digits in a 10-2 victory in the same Herb Brooks Arena where the U.S. Hockey Team’s “Miracle On Ice” took place in 1980.
Roaring to a 9-1 lead through two periods, F-M got a career-best effort from Hammond, who augmented his three-goal hat trick by piling up four assists as Denton scored twice and got three assists.
Duncanson notched four assists as he, along with Dichristina, Tedeschi, Mike Hockenberger and Chris Hurley got single goals. Dichristina and Hurley also had assists as Brendon McDonald contributed two assists and Mikkal Tola also got in the assist column.
Back home after taking back-to-back defeats in the capital district on the first weekend of December, CBA/Jamesville-DeWitt did not see things get easier – at least not right away.
Whitesboro arrived at Onondaga Nation Arena last Wednesday night and prevailed 3-1 over the Brothers, briefly moving to the top of the Division II American Conference standings.
It took less than three minutes for the Warriors to seize a 1-0 lead, only to have Tanner Burns answer to get CBA/J-D on the board, and it remained 1-1 after one period.
Whitesboro didn’t take the lead until just past the midway point of the second period, but it tacked on an insurance goal early in the final period and, try as it could, the Brothers could not catch up.
Still at home on Saturday, CBA/J-D faced Fulton, and finally the skid ended as the Brothers bashed the Red Raiders 5-1, and even this one had some doubt in the early going.
Despite controlling the flow of play, CBA/J-D could only build a 2-0 lead through two periods, but the cumulative pressure on Fulton paid off with a three-goal outburst in the final 15 minutes as it ultimately took 41 shots to the Red Raiders’ 13.
Codi Dotterer led the charge, scoring twice and adding an assist. Josh Grund had one goal and one assist as Ian Henderson and Hari Nanthakumar also found the net. Alec Jewett, Adam Louise, Jack Lester and Bailey Doust had one assist apiece.
CBA/J-D was back on the road this week, going to Morrisville State IcePlex to face Cazenovia and then heading to Allyn Arena to clash with defending sectional champion Skaneateles.
F-M would face its Twin Rinks cohorts from Cicero-North Syracuse Tuesday before hosting Mohawk Valley on Friday.
