Passing the midway point of the regular season, the Fayetteville-Manlius ice hockey team had established itself as someone that could earn a high seed once the Section III Division I playoffs rolled around.
The Hornets were 5-3-1 going into the Clinton Tournament at Clinton Arena, where back in September it served as the “Hockeyville” host of an NHL preseason game between the Buffalo Sabres and Columbus Blue Jackets.
Now it was F-M’s turn on that ice, and in the opening round Thursday it pummeled New Rochelle (Section I) 12-1, setting a season mark for goals as Zach Bookman was responsible for many of them, earning five assists to go with his pair of tallies.
Will Duncanson had two goals and three assists, with Jonas Oesterle also scoring twice. Ben Hammond got a goal and three assists as Josh Kuchinski got one goal and two assists.
Mike Hockenberger earned a goal and assist, with goals also picked up by Jack Coughlin, Colin Debejian and Andrew Heyman. Caleb Erno picked up a pair of assists as Trent McKiven and A.J. Williamson also got assists.
Clinton survived a shootout with Rochester Aquinas in the other opening-round game, so the Hornets would face the Warriors in Friday’s championship game.
But just like it did in the 2018 edition of the title game, F-M prevailed, 2-0, getting a superb effort from its defense and goaltender Brandon Heyman, who stopped all 26 shots he faced.
Both of the Hornets’ goals came in the second period as Jackson Denton and Spencer Sassenbury found the net, with Bookman assisting on both goals and Hammond also getting an assist.
Now at 7-3-1 overall, F-M rested until this week’s games against Fulton and Ontario Bay, who would take on CBA/Jamesville-DeWitt last Friday at Onondaga Nation Arena as the Brothers returned to action, having not played since a Dec. 20 loss to Skaneateles.
It proved a productive evening for CBA/J-D, who stopped the Storm 13-3. Four different players scored twice for the Brothers as Seamus Nicholson got two goals and two assists, with Justin Thies, Bailey Doust and Simon Lessor also in the two-goal column.
Kodi Dotterer, Dylan Drury and Tanner Burns both earned a goal and three assists to match Nicholson’s point total. Isaiah Raby and Brackton Bowler also had goals as Cole Mathews and Ethan White picked up assists.
Against Batavia Notre Dame on Saturday afternoon, the Brothers won again, 3-2. With that victory, CBA/J-D improved to 4-6-2 as it would go to Kennedy Arena in Rome to face Mohawk Valley Tuesday and take on Liverpool Friday at Lysander Arena.
