As the winter wore on and the results got clearer, the West Genesee and Syracuse ice hockey teams knew they would hold the top two seeds once the Section III Division I playoffs rolled around.
In a 10-team bracket, the top-seeded Cougars and no. 2 seed Wildcats had to wait to find out who they would play last Friday night in the quarterfinals, and the wait got a bit longer when bad weather postponed early-round games.
On Wednesday, those first-round games happened. Both road teams won, with no. 10 seed Fulton prevailing 6-4 against Cicero-North Syracuse at the Twin Rinks as no. 9 seed Liverpool edged no. 8 seed Cazenovia 3-2 at Morrisville State IcePlex.
That meant, for the quarterfinals, that Syracuse would face Fulton and WG would get Liverpool.
At Shove Park, WG was not going to take Liverpool lightly, having only beat them 4-2 a month earlier at Lysander. And there was a brief moment of concern late in this game before the Wildcats put things away and knocked out the Warriors 7-3.
Penalties hurt WG early, but it killed off those short-handed situations and, with less than two minutes left in the first period, got a 1-0 lead on Dan Holzhauer’s goal.
Ryan Washo converted on the power play six minutes into the second period, and Holzhauer converted a second time four minutes later. Less than two minutes into the third period, Andrew Schneid’s goal made it 4-0.
Liverpool briefly rose up to score twice and cut WG’s margin in half, but once Holzhauer found the net again for a hat trick with 11:15 to play, things got settled, Washo and Joe Artini adding late goals.
Aside from his three goals, Holzhauer also managed three assists as Jack Miller got two assists. Washo, Jimmy Bergan, Chris Kleberg, Joe McLaughlin and Jake Kopek had one assist apiece.
Syracuse, meanwhile, hosted a Fulton side it trashed 15-1 on Dec. 19, but the rematch went in a far different direction early before the Cougars settled down, took over and easily prevailed 8-2.
All through the first period, Syracuse kept getting shots turned away by Fulton goaltender Jaden Lee, and when the Red Raiders grabbed a 1-0 advantage on Joe Galvagno’s goal, some concerns were registered.
But the Cougars would find the net four times in each of the next two periods, negating Lee’s 50 saves as Philip Zollo and Skariwate Papineau each scored twice, with Zollo getting two assists and Papineau adding one assist.
Ryan Eccles and Jack Grooms each tallied three assists, Eccles also earning a goal as Ryan Durand and Kyle Lamson each got one goal and one assist. Andrew Corning also found the net as Hugh White and Caleb Benedict earned assists.
Syracuse faces Baldwinsville in the sectional semifinals this Wednesday night at Meachem Rink after the Bees rallied to knock off Rome Free Academy 5-3.
As that goes on, WG hosts Fayetteville-Manlius, who used a goal in the last minute of regulation to oust CBA/Jamesville-DeWitt 4-3 to reach the sectional semifinals for the first time in program history.
Before all this, Syracuse fit it another regular-season game against Ithaca, making up for a canceled trip from Mamaroneck in mid-January, and the Cougars defeated the Little Red 6-2.
A four-goal first period negated Ithaca converting twice in that frame, and Syracuse’s defense clamped down from there, limiting the Little Red to just 17 shots overall.
Meanwhile, Philip Zollo rolled up another hat trick, finishing with three goals and one assist, his passes often coming from Ryan Eccles, who had three assists to go with his lone goal.
Kyle Lamson and Andrew Corning also found the net, while Ryan Durand had two assists. Steve Matro, Mack Etoll, Nate Frye and Kaleb Benedict had one assist apiece.
