With the way the schedule broke, the Baldwinsville ice hockey team would find itself facing both of its closest neighbors as the calendar turned from January to the decisive month of February.
Having inched up to no. 12 in the latest state Division I rankings, the Bees met Cicero-North Syracuse last Tuesday at the Twin Rinks, a possible playoff preview, given the fact that the Northstars were second to West Genesee in the Division I American Conference standings.
And it turned into a defensive stalemate, for the most part, but at least B’ville was able to net a first-period goal that held up the rest of the way as it fought past C-NS 1-0.
Tanner McCaffrey picked up that lone goal, assisted by Mark Monaco and Brendan Wilcox, with Northstars goalie Jack Doren stopping everything else the rest of the night on his way to 33 saves overall.
But Ben Dwyer and the rest of the Bees’ defense stood out as it earned a second consecutive shutout to follow the 5-0 win over Whitesboro it had on Jan. 27. C-NS took just 14 shots, all stopped by Jeremy Rappard.
Now, on Saturday, B’ville was back at Lysander Arena, facing the same Liverpool side it smashed 12-1 a month earlier and had to wait an extra day to face due to a weather postponement.
Yet neither the delay, nor the motivation for Liverpool payback, did much to change things as again B’ville won big, this time 9-1 to improve its overall record to 13-3-1.
And it sets up Wednesday night’s big game at Meachem Rink, where B’ville and Syracuse, who tied 1-1 in early December at the Bobby Conklin Memorial Tournament, reunite with the Division I National Conference regular-season title, and a favorable sectional playoff draw, at stake. The Bees also host Ithaca this Friday night.
