Even with a tie against Cortland-Homer and a loss to Syracuse on its ledger, the Skaneateles boys ice hockey team remained the top-ranked side in last week’s state Division II rankings.
Clearly, the effort the Lakers gave in that 1-0 defeat to Syracuse (no. 4 in the state in Division I) was rewarded, and the fact that Skaneateles owned a road win over state Division II no. 2-ranked Rochester McQuaid helped, too.
Back at Allyn Arena last Tuesday night, the Lakers hosted Clinton, and while it proved a close battle, Skaneateles did enough, on both ends, to defeat the Warriors 4-2.
They were tied 1-1 after one period, but as Clinton stayed quiet in the second period, the Lakers netted the go-ahead goal and added two more in the final period to thwart any Warriors comeback.
Jack Henry would score twice, with single goals going to Ryan Gick and Owen Van Holtz. Bauer Morrissey, Charlie Major, Charlie Russell, Cam Lowe and Colin Weeks had one assist apiece.
Even with goals by Tyler Karuzas and Nate Provost, Clinton found itself bottled up most of the night, Chris Falso stopping 23 of the 25 shots he faced. Warriors goalie Josh Trask had 27 saves.
This was the last Division II game for the Lakers before the long holiday break, as it would have back-to-back games against Division I foes late in the week.
First, Skaneateles went to Onondaga Nation Arena Thursday night to face CBA/Jamesville-DeWitt, where it was quiet for a while, but eventually took over and earned a 5-0 shutout of the Brothers.
It was scoreless into the second period, Skaneateles attacking plenty, but getting stopped by CBA/J-D goalie Joe Salvador, who would eventually accumulate 35 saves.
But once the Lakers got on the board in the second period, it added four more in the remaining time as Garrett Krieger earned two of those goals, with Major, Van Holtz and Cole Heintz each getting two assists.
Single goals went to Major, Weeks and Luke Lynn, with each of the Brothers’ 17 shots stopped by Adam Casper in his latest successful turn between the pipes.
Just 24 hours later, the Lakers were back at Allyn Arena, taking on Ithaca, and had no drop-off in its form, cruising past the Little Red 5-1.
Here, Skaneateles didn’t wait to get on the board, scoring twice in the first period to seize control and building that margin the rest of the way while its defense limited Ithaca to 19 shots, 18 of which were stopped by Casper and Chris Falso.
Eleven different Lakers had at least one point as Van Holtz scored twice, with Krieger, Lynn and Luke Renaud getting one goal apiece. Lynn also joined Major, Weeks, Russell, Gick, Henry, Lowe and Jack Donovan in earning single assists.
Half of the regular season was now complete for Skaneateles, and at 8-1-1 it went into a two-week break, not resuming until Jan. 4 at the Duke Schneider Memorial Tournament.
