In the process of splitting two games within a 24-hours span during the holiday break, the Fayetteville-Manlius ice hockey team got a unique experience.
Making up a game against Cicero-North Syracuse snowed out from earlier in the month, the Hornets found the Twin Rinks unavailable on Dec. 27, the game got moved to, of all places, the Onondaga County War Memorial.
This allowed F-M and C-NS to play on the same ice as the Syracuse Crunch – and on the same day as the Crunch, too, since Syracuse was facing (and would beat) the Toronto Marlies later that night in American Hockey League action.
F-M may have loved the surroundings – but not the result of the game, an 8-1 loss to the Northstars, who roared out to a 4-0 lead by the end of the first period and never looked back.
The Hornets took 29 shots, all but one of them stopped by C-NS goalie Jack Doren as Will Duncanson’s third-period goal, assisted by Ben Hammond and Sam Dichristina, broke up the shutout. Matt Cramer, Rob Mitchell and Jake DenBleyker led C-NS with two goals apiece.
Despite all this, F-M would turn around and, within the next 48 hours, prevail in the Clinton Holiday Tournament.
In the Dec. 28 opening round at historic Clinton Arena, the Hornets put together a 6-1 victory over New Rochelle, from the Section I ranks. Not content with gaining a 3-1 lead in the first period, the Hornets kept pulling away.
Duncanson scored twice and got an assist, while Trent McKiven earned three assists. Jackson Denton and Josh Kuchinski each had one goal and one assist, with Hammond and A.J. Williamson also finding the net. Dichristina got two assists as single assists went to Mike Hockenberger and Brendon McDonald.
The final pitted F-M and host Clinton, who had handled Rochester Aquinas 4-1. This game was close, but it was the Hornets making the late move to edge the Warriors 3-2 for the first-place trophy.
Trailing 1-0 after one period, F-M caught up in the middle stages and then netted the lone goal of the third period, doing so despite taking just 12 shots all game.
James Kaffenberger was superb in goal, stopping 28 of 30 shots. His work was rewarded thanks to Duncanson’s two goals and one assist as Denton also found the net, with Hammond, Dichristina and Chris Hurley also getting assists.
Following a week to rest, F-M was set toget back on the ice Friday against perennial Division I title contender Baldwinsville at the Twin Rinks, but it got snowed out.
So with a 5-3-2 record midway through its regular-season slate, the Hornets would go to Kennedy Arena Tuesday to face Rome Free Academy and then host Liverpool this Friday.
