One period remained in last Tuesday night’s Laker hockey clash at the Morrisville State IcePlex, and Cazenovia was on the brink of something quite remarkable.
Despite its 3-10 record, Cazenovia was tied with 11-4 Skaneateles, who had a perfect 9-0 record against Division II opponents this season and had risen to no. 7 in the state rankings.
Ultimately, the dream of a season-altering upset was dashed as Cazenovia lost, 2-1, but the mere fact that it could hang close to the defending sectional champions offered hope for the rest of the regular season.
These same two sides had met Dec. 7 at Allyn Arena. Cazenovia lost that day 7-1, but back on home ice it contained Skaneateles in the first period, only trailing 1-0 going to intermission.
Then, in the second period, Steve LaFever’s unassisted goal produced a 1-1 tie. Meanwhile, forced to defend its own net, Cazenovia did so as Logan Palmer was on his way to 37 saves.
But Skaneateles still broke the tie in the third period as Bauer Morrissey netted one goal and assisted on the other, by Jack Henry. And it held on with enough key stops from its goalie, Chris Falso, who got 15 saves.
On Friday night, Cazenovia was to venture to Onondaga Nation Arena to face CBA/Jamesville-DeWitt, the first of two games in as many weeks against the Brothers, but weather forced a postponement.
Back at the IcePlex Saturday night, the Lakers hosted Clinton and got involved in another close game with a frustrating outcome as Cazenovia fell 3-2 to the Warriors.
This meant that the Lakers had to gleam points out of its trio of games this week to reach the Section III playoffs, going to Oswego Tuesday and hosting Whitesboro Thursday before making up the CBA/J-D game Saturday afternoon.
