A well-rested Cicero-North Syracuse ice hockey team, who had not played since a Dec. 4 defeat at Oswego, returned to action last Friday when it hosted its own C-NS Optimist Tournament at the Twin Rinks, and proceeded to win the tournament.
In the first round, the Northstars beat Greece (Section V) 5-2, blanking the visitors in the first and third periods as Matt Cramer had a part in every single C-NS scoring play.
Not only did Cramer score twice, he got three assists, Holden Sarosy also earning three assists as Jake Den Bleyker earned two goals and two assists. Logan Ungelich and Josh Matyasik had single assists, Jordan Miller stopping 25 of 27 shots.
CBA/Jamesville-DeWitt edged New Hartford 2-1 in the other half of the opening round, so Saturday’s final pitted the Brothers against C-NS, where with a strong finishing kick the Northstars rallied to win 6-4.
Through one period, C-NS trailed 2-1, but it caught up in the middle stages and, in the final period, broke out of a 3-3 tie with Den Bleyker leading the way thanks to three goals and one assist.
Aside from Den Bleyker’s hat trick, Ungelich scored twice, with Cramer getting one goal and one assist. Matyasik and Aidan Long earned single assists and Miller recorded 17 saves.
So C-NS was 2-1-1 ahead of Monday’s game with Watertown IHC as, on Friday, it would test itself at Shove Park against West Genesee, who entered this week with a four-game win streak after an uncharacteristic 0-3 start.
Even as it took a 5-2 defeat to Baldwinsville on Dec. 6 at Lysander Arena, Liverpool had, by keeping the game close until the third period, showed that it could reasonably keep up with one of the best Division I sides in Central New York.
Buoyed by that effort, the Warriors went to Fulton last Tuesday night and, getting a memorable performance from Connor Boland, took over early and earned an impressive 7-2 victory over the Red Raiders.
Liverpool jumped out in front 2-0 before the first period was done, but didn’t settle for that, pulling even further away and not letting up until it led 6-1 after two periods.
All the while, Fulton could not stop Boland, who would earn seven points thanks to five goals and two assists, having a part in every single Warriors scoring play.
Matt Gagnon eagerly fed it to Boland, finishing with four assists, while Boland’s passes led to goals by Jack Irwin and Marco Palumbo. Joe Terranova got an assist, too, as Gavin Buza was superb in the net, stopping 31 of Fulton’s 33 shots.
Back at Lysander on Friday night, Liverpool hosted Oswego, and took a 3-2 overtime defeat to the Buccaneers, who overcame a 1-0 deficit at the end of two periods.
Jack Irwin twice scored, once in the first period and again in the third period as Boland assisted on both of them and Anthony Benedetto also had an assist.
Still, Oswego overcame a 1-0 deficit in the final period and took it in OT as two of the goals came from Frank Winchek and the other from Ryan Wood. Buza again had 31 saves as Bucs counterpart Jason Proud got 32 saves.
Liverpool would meet Fayetteville-Manlius Tuesday at the Twin Rinks and then go to Kennedy Arena Friday to face Mohawk Valley.
