Twice in a span of four days, the Cicero-North Syracuse ice hockey team had an opportunity to go up against a West Genesee side that had long dominated their head-to-head battles.
In the first chapter Thursday night at the Twin Rinks, the Northstars nearly rallied from a two-goal deficit in the third period, but took a 3-2 defeat to the Wildcats.
Goals by Max Hahn, James Schneid and Tom Shields had helped to build that early 3-1 edge, but C-NS hung in there thanks to a fine effort in the net from Kaii Van Iuven, who made 28 saves.
Then Holden Sarosy, who scored in the second period, converted again in the third, with assists once more going to Matt Cramer and Carter Wisely, but the Northstars could not get it to overtime.
C-NS had played the night before against Watertown IHC, and with some late heroics the Northstars earned a 4-3 victory over the Cavaliers.
Trailing 3-2 in the third period, C-NS pulled even with IHC thanks to Holden Sarosy’s goal, and then moved in front when Matt Cramer converted. The Northstars’ defense made sure that the Cavaliers did not get the game to overtime.
As C-NS awaited its Monday rematch with the Wildcats at Shove Park, Liverpool was seeking to improve upon its 5-5-2 mark after splitting games last week.
The Warriors lost, 7-2, to Fayetteville-Manlius last Tuesday at Lysander Arena. Matt Gagnon and Connor Boland earned goals, with Xavier Springer getting an assist.
But Liverpool’s defense could not get to F-M forward Spencer Sasenbury, who earned a career-best five assists as John Manzi got three goals for a hat trick and Jackson Denton earned three assists.
Hosting Mohawk Valley two nights later, Liverpool fared better, beating the Raiders 7-0 as it bolted out of the gate with four goals before the first period was done.
Gagnon, Dylan Husted and Cole Broughton each scored twice, with Matt Markusz also scoring. Joe Terranova picked up a pair of assists as Boland, Marco Palumbo, Chris Zimmer, Anthony Bentley and cory Grinnals also picked up points.
This improved Liverpool’s overall record to 5-5-2 as it would have its own game with West Genesee Tuesday right after C-NS played them, and then face reigning state Division I champion Syracuse on Thursday. The Northstars also play Rome Free Academy and Cazenovia this week.
