True, the bigger quests still lie ahead for the Skaneateles boys ice hockey team as it aims to repeat as both Section III and state Division II champions.
But the accomplishment of an undefeated regular season is nearly in the books for the Lakers, who impressed again this week with two big wins over Divsion II challengers.
Traveling to New Hartford Monday night, Skaneateles got off to yet another quick start and left the Spartans far behind them on the way to an 8-2 victory.
It was 4-1 by the end of the first period, the Lakers ultimately seeing 10 different players earn points and six of them score goals, with only Jack Henry and Brendan Powers converting twice.
Charlie Major had a goal and three assists, while Garrett Krieger, Cole Heintz and Charlie Russell each had one goal and two assists. Single assists went to Ben Clymer, Tom Coyne and Jacob French.
Two nights later, Skaneateles went to Oswego, where the Lakers made up for a slow start in a big way by the way it tore through the last two periods of a 7-1 victory over the Buccaneers.
Oswego did keep Skaneateles off the board in the first period, but once it broke through early in the second, the Lakers built a 3-0 margin and doubled it during the final period.
Krieger set the pace with a three-goal hat trick, with Major and Russell each getting three assists. Henry added two assists as Heintz, Powers, Cam Lowe and Jacob Weeks earned single goals. French and Jack Buff got assists.
Now all that is left was to tame Whitesboro in the regular-season finale next Wednesday night at Allyn Arena. Already, these two teams have clinched the top two seeds for the sectional Division II playoffs and had byes straight into the semifinals, which are not until Feb. 24-25.
Thus, the Lakers and Warriors would play this game on this date so that neither of them would have a prolonged break between the end of the regular season and their respective semifinals.
