Though the Fayetteville-Manlius ice hockey team is assured of seeing itself in the Section III Division I playoffs, it knew that any advancement would depend upon vast improvement between now and the post-season.
When the Hornets went to Shove Park and faced undefeated, state Division I no. 2-ranked West Genesee last Tuesday night, it ended like the first encounter did, with F-M kept off the board in a 6-0 defeat to the Wildcats.
They had met two weeks earlier at Cicero Twin Rinks, and while the Hornets were strong on the defensive end, WG still won 3-0. Now the Wildcats were riding momentum from its big 3-2 win over Syracuse Jan. 27 and were holding Senior Night festivities.
The Hornets surrendered more goals in the first period to WG than it did the entire first meeting. It was 4-0 by intermission, and from there F-M’s defense settled down as James Kaffenberger finished with 24 saves.
Dan Colabufo and Patrick McDonald led the Wildcats, each with two goals and two assists. Jimmy Bergan and Ryan Washo had the other goals as WG held the Hornets to just 10 shots all night.
On that same night, CBA/Jamesville-DeWitt visited Ithaca, and had its own struggles in a 6-1 defeat to the Little Red. Tanner Coleman’s goal prevented a shutout.
Now the Brothers were set to have home games on back-to-back nights, starting Thursday against New Hartford , where it quickly turned things around and blanked the Spartans 2-0 as goals by Kodi Dotterer and Cole Mathews held up.
A night later, Cazenovia was set to arrive at Onondaga Nation Arena, having just put a scare into defending sectional Division II champion Skaneateles in a 2-1 defeat earlier in the week. But bad weather forced a postponement.
That game will get made up this Saturday at the tail end of a stretch of four games in six days, CBA/J-D also taking on Skaneateles, Clinton and Oswego as F-M would meet Cicero-North Syracuse and Mohawk Valley back-to-back early this week before hosting Liverpool in Saturday’s regular-season finale.
