A fourth-place finish in the Division I American Conference did not give the Fayetteville-Manlius ice hockey team an ideal situation heading into the Section III playoffs.
That’s because the Hornets would have to go to Meachem Rink to face National Conference regular-season champion Syracuse in Friday night’s opening round, and it proved too big of a task as it lost, 6-1, to the Cougars.
They had met on this same ice Jan. 25, and F-M didn’t get on the board in a 4-0 defeat. For a long while, the playoff sequel looked like a shutout, too, as Syracuse built up a 5-0 lead through two periods.
It wasn’t until Jackson Denton, off a feed from Ben Hammond, beat Jack Klawitter in the third period did F-M finally get a goal.
Meanwhile, goalies James Kaffenberger and Brandon Heyman combined for 36 saves, but Syracuse was too deep and diverse as 13 different players got at least one point by night’s end.
Bryan O’Mara notched two goals, with single goals going to Philip Zollo, Kyle Lamson, Ryan Durand and Skariwate Papineau. Nineothers – Zollo, Ryan Eccles, Nate Frye, Jack Grooms, Hugh White, Kaleb Benedict, Mack Etoll, Steve Matro and Joe Lamson – earned one assist apiece.
At least F-M got to see the post-season, unlike its neighbors from CBA/Jamesville-DeWitt, who dropped a 4-1 decision to Cazenovia last Tuesday night at Onondaga Nation Arena.
These two teams were battling it out for the fourth and final spot out of the Division II American Conference, and schedule shifts led to a home-and-home series at the end of the regular season.
CBA/J-D won the first portion of it 4-4 Feb. 10 at the Morrisville State IcePlex, rallying from a 3-1 deficit in the third period thanks to Kodi Dotterer’s hat trick.
Even with that, though, the Brothers had to win again in the rematch three days later.
The key was a first period where the Lakers grabbed a 2-0 advantage. Now, unlike the first meeting, it protected that lead, notching single goals in the next two frames and shutting out CBA/J-D until Zach Eber scored in the third period, assisted by Dotterer and Tanner Burns.
Those four Cazenovia goals came from four different players – Steve LaFever, Trey Schug, J.D. Speer and R.J. Smith. Chase Cross picked up two assists, while single assists went to LaFever and Mike Avgenikos.
