After a two-day postponement, the Liverpool ice hockey team would challenge its neighbors from Baldwinsville last Thursday night at the Lysander Ice Arena facility the two programs share – though they play home games on separate rinks.
This was, for a long while, a close, low-scoring and tense affair, but in the third period the Warriors got overwhelmed, its effort resulting in a 5-2 defeat to the Bees.
B’ville was 2-0 following its win in the Nov. 30-Dec. 1 Bobby Conklin Memorial Tournament, while Liverpool had started 1-2-1, coming off its own weekend trip where it had split a pair of games.
First, Liverpool had lost, 5-4, to Canton in overtime on Nov. 30, despite rallying from a 3-1 deficit in the third period, helped by Matt Gagnon’s two goals and two assists.
Pat Langlois and Connor Boland both finished with one goal and one assist, with Jack Irwin adding an assist as Gavin Buza, in goal, recorded 31 saves.
A day later, Liverpool finally got its first win of the season, topping Potsdam 4-2, this time rewarded for its strong finish as it scored twice in the third period to break a 2-2 tie.
Mostly, the show belonged to Boland, who had a three-goal hat trick, his passes often coming from Gagnon, who got three assists. Langlois had the other goal and Irwin added an assist as James Welch and Nick Reed combined for 22 saves.
And this brought the Warriors to its game with B’ville, where it stayed scoreless in the first period despite the Bees having most of the chances. Then they traded goals in the second period, Boland again converting on Liverpool’s side.
So it was 1-1 going to the third, and it was here that the Bees, led by Christian Treichler (two goals) and Mike Marsallo (one goal, two assists) did most of its damage, overcoming the combined 33 saves from Buza and James Welch and a second Boland goal. Irwin and Matt Gagnon earned assists.
Far from all this, Cicero-North Syracuse, in its only game last week, ran into a one-man show in the form of Johnny Malandruccolo, whose one-man show helped defending sectional Division II champion Auburn beat the Northstars 6-3 last Tuesday at Casey Park.
The three periods had distinct forms. In the first, Malandruccolo scored twice and the Maroons went up 2-0, but the Northstars turned it around in the second period..
Tyler Murray, Josh Matyasik and Holden Sarosy each netted goals, with Dan Quick and Logan Ungelich getting assists, and Jordan Miller (who finished with 13 saves) kept Auburn off the board.
So C-NS was up 3-2 going to the third period, when Malandruccolo took over again. Not only did he net the tying and go-ahead goals, Malandruccolo tacked on two more for a total of six, moving his career total to 99.
Between Malandruccolo’s eruption, Ty Hlywa’s three assists and 31 saves from goalie Aaron Kowal, Auburn prevailed, and C-NS is 0-1-1 going into its own Optimist Tournament that takes place next Friday and Saturday at the Twin Rinks.
Liverpool, meanwhile, is set to go to Fulton next Tuesday night before hosting Oswego on Friday.
