With a season full of consistent, solid play, the Fayetteville-Manlius ice hockey team climbed all the way to third place in the final Division I regular-season standings.
A key to this effort was when the Hornets went to Lysander Arena and pulled out a 4-3 victory over Baldwinsville, clinching, at worst, a home game in the Section III playoffs.
Even though it was B’ville’s Senior Night, F-M had every intention of ruining the festivities, battling its way to a 2-1 lead by the end of the first period.
Never trailing, the Hornets twice answered when B’ville notched goals in the next two periods, and though the Bees had twice as many shots, Brandon Heyman turned most of them away, finishing with 31 saves.
Will Duncanson, with a goal and two assists, led a well-balanced F-M attack. Zach Bookman had one goal and one assist, with Ben Hammond and Colin Debejian also finding the net. Spencer Sasenbury picked up an assist.
And when F-M went to Morrisville State IcePlex last Friday night and handled Cazenovia 6-0, it locked up third place, behind only powers Syracuse and West Genesee, the last two sectional champions.
It was 0-0 until the second period, when F-M erupted for four goals, the first two of them less than a minute apart early in the frame and two more followed.
Jackson Denton scored twice, with Bookman getting a goal and two assists. Mike Hockenberger had one goal and one assist as Josh Kuchinski and Jason Tedeschi also found the net.
Duncanson matched Bookman’s total of two assists, with single assists going to Hammond, Sasenbury, Jack Coughlin and Liam Kurak. Between them, Heyman and Jake Johnston stopped all 24 shots they faced.
But the Hornets weren’t the only local side playing well.
After scuffling through much of the winter, CBA/Jamesville-DeWitt picked the right time to take off, winning five consecutive games to rise up to 10-8-2 overall and improve its sectional seeding.
It took until Feb. 3 for the Brothers to finally reach the .500 mark, doing so when it took down Mohawk Valley 6-2 at Onondaga Nation Arena in Nedrow.
Simon Lessor, with two goals and two assists, led a deep CBA/J-D attack as Adam Louise got a goal and two assists, with Kodi Dotterer earning one goal and one assist.
Dylan Drury and Tanner Burns also found the net, with Ian Henderson getting two assists. Tom Caputo, Turner Pomeroy, Hudson DiNapoli and Bailey Doust had one assist apiece. Joe Salvador and Ethan White combined to make 14 saves.
Two nights later, against Watertown IHC, the Brothers won again, handling the Cavaliers 4-1. Steadily, CBA/J-D worked its way to a 3-0 lead through two periods despite fine work in goal by IHC’s Stefon Lucidi, who finished with 40 saves.
Henderson, Louise and Cole Mathews each had a goal and assist, with Dotterer adding two assists. Drury got the other goal and Caputo picked up an assist. Salvador went the whole game in the net, recording 19 saves.
CBA/J-D finished the regular season at Fulton Saturday night and again won big, topping the Red Raiders 6-1 behind a well-balanced attack led by Dotterer, who had two goals and one assist, and Louise, who got a goal and three assists.
Burns and Brackton Bowler both produced one goal and one assist, while Lessor also scored. Doust and Mathews each had one assist as the Brothers’ defense limited Fulton to 15 shots all night.
This meant that CBA/J-D carried a five-game win streak into the sectional playoffs – where it will meet F-M in the quarterfinals Friday night at 6 p.m. at Cicero Twin Rinks. They played to a 2-2 tie back on Dec. 8 in a game played at the Syracuse War Memorial.
