In an eight-day span before and after Christmas, the Fayetteville-Manlius ice hockey team emerged satisfying results from two different road trips.
First, on Dec. 20-21, the Hornets split two games in the Albany area, defeating Shenendehowa 4-3 but then getting stopped by Saratoga Springs 4-1.
Then, last week, F-M was back in action, this time in the Clinton Tournament at Clinton Arena, where for the third year in a row it took home the first-place trophy.
The Hornets dominated in Thursday’s opening round against New Rochelle (Section I), prevailing 9-0 as John Manzi and Ben Hammond led the way, each of them earning three goal hat tricks.
Manzi also picked up an assist as Will Duncanson and Josh Kuchinski both got one goal and one assist. Riley Carr also had a goal, with Spencer Sansenbury getting two assists. A.J. Williamson also had an assist.
The other first-round game pitted state Division II no. 5-ranked Whitesboro against state no. 6-ranked Clinton, and Whitesboro won 4-3,
So in the final on Friday F-M would face a Whitesboro side that had won eight in a row and sat at no. 5 in that week’s state Division II rankings.
And the Hornets, with its best all-around effort of the season, beat the Warriors 5-2, this time featuring a well-balanced attack led by Duncanson, who scored twice, and Manzi, who had a pair of assists.
Single goals went to Alex Corbett, Steve DiBlasi and Liam Kurak, with Hammond, Kuchinski and Jason Tedeschi each getting one assist. Jake Johnston, in the net, stopped 21 of the 23 shots he faced.
Meanwhile, CBA/Jamesville-DeWitt would take its own trip last weekend to Troy’s Renselaaer Polytechnic Institute for a pair of games, going 1-1 on that trip.
Against Albany CBA on Friday, the Brothers were unable to get on the board in a 4-0 defeat, surrendering goals in each period as Joe Salvador recorded 17 saves.
Then, facing North Rockland, from Section I, on Saturday afternoon, CBA/J-D turned it around and prevailed 7-1 over the Raiders, bolting out to a 4-0 advantage by the end of the first period and never getting caught.
Kodi Dotterer and Simon Lesser led the way, Dotterer scoring four times and Lesser piling up three assists to go with his pair of goals.
Finn Wheeler also picked up three assists as Justin Thies gained a single goal, with assists also going to Donovan Watson, Isaiah Raby and Mason McKie.
Back at Onondaga Nation Arena on the first Friday of the new year, CBA/J-D hosted Auburn, and it turned into a tense, low-scoring affair, but the Brothers lost 2-1 to the Maroons.
Brockton Bowler had his team’s lone goal, assisted by Dotterer and Lesser. Manuel Pineda had 21 saves, yet Auburn got through with Jackson Siddall’s 33 saves to augment goals by Ross Burgmaster and Charlie Cunningham.
The following week, CBA/J-D is up against Baldwinsville and Fulton as F-M resumes Tuesday at Lysander Arena against Liverpool and, in its first home game in a month, takes on reigning state Division I champion Syracuse next Thursday at Cicero Twin Rinks.
