Earning one state championship through a perfect 2016-17 season was remarkable enough for the Skaneateles girls ice hockey team. Claiming a second straight state title may have topped that achievement.
But it proved too great of a challenge for this young Lakers roster, who repeated as Section III champions, only to run into a determined Frontier/Lakeshore/Orchard Park squad in Saturday’s state semifinal at Oswego State’s Marano Campus Center and take a 6-3 defeat.
These teams were familiar with each other, for it was Skaneateles who beat FLOP 5-1 in the 2017 state final. A year later and a round earlier, things changed, and it didn’t take long for those changes to show up on the ice.
In fact, just 31 seconds elapsed before FLOP’s Brooke Becker put in the first goal of the afternoon. Absorbing this blow, the Lakers answered five minutes later with Cecily Kawejsza’s goal.
They stayed 1-1 until late in the first period, when Taylor Gehen put in the goal that, as it turned out, pushed FLOP ahead to stay. Emily Kromer struck early in the the second period, increasing the Lakers’ deficit to 3-1, only to have Megan Teachout convert from the left point at the 3:50 mark.
As things turned more physical, a couple of whistles proved damaging to the Skaneateles hopes. At the same time late in the second period, two Lakers players went to the penalty box, giving FLOP a five-on-three situation that it turned into back-to-back goals just 32 seconds apart.
That flurry, along with Gabby DeMeo’s goal early in the third period, made it 6-2, and even though Skaneateles had come back from a two-goal deficit to beat Ithaca in the sectional final on Feb. 4, this proved too tall of a task.
Teachout did offer up one more bit of magic, beating four FLOP defenders for a goal with 3:54 to play, but the Lakers could only watch as FLOP advanced to face Salmon River in the state final.
Skaneateles brings back a strong lineup in 2018-19 (just one senior was on this year’s roster) and has every reason to think it can push for sectional and state honors again.
