Now the Fayetteville-Manlius ice hockey team finds itself just where it was 12 months ago, with a spot for the Section III Division I semifinals and bound for Shove Park to challenge West Genesee.
To get there, the no. 3 seed Hornets first had to get past no. 6 seed Rome Free Academy in last Thursday night’s sectional quarterfinal at Cicero Twin Rinks.
And it didn’t prove easy, F-M stymied throughout the game’s late stages, but leaning on its own defense to hang on and get a 2-1 victory over the Black Knights.
They had met just two weeks earlier, on Feb. 4, and F-M had prevailed there 3-1. It quickly got a two-goal edge here, too.
Less than seven minutes into the game, Jackson Denton scored off a feed from Will Duncanson, and on the power play Spencer Sasenbury made it 2-0, his goal assisted by John Manzi.
RFA countered in the second period with a goal by Joey Gulla to move within one, and it would give itself a chance to catch up thanks to a superb effort in the net by Isaiah Nebush, who turned back 45 of F-M’s 47 shots.
It was up to the Hornets’ back line to make sure the Black Knights didn’t pull even, and it broke up numerous attacks throughout the closing stages. They protected Konrad Walburger, who only had to make 17 saves.
Now it was on to face West Genesee – who, last Friday night, had put an end to the sectional championship aspirations of CBA/Jamesville-DeWitt when the Brothers lost 5-0 to the Wildcats in its sectional quarterfinal.
Just getting to this game required CBA/J-D to first knock off no. 10 seed Cazenovia in last Tuesday’s opening-round game at Onondaga Nation Arena, and with patience and pressure, it put away the Lakers 5-1.
Having knocked off Cazenovia 6-2 when the two teams met in December, the Brothers did not get discouraged when Lakers goalie Cy McCrink turned away all 20 shots he faced in a scoreless first period.
Instead, CBA/J-D kept firing and scored twice in the second period, negating Forrest Ives’ lone goal for Cazenovia, and then found the net three more times in the final period to get away.
Five different players – Isaiah Raby, Tanner Burns, Matt Walker, Simon Lesser and John Greenwood – had those five goals.
Kodi Dotterer and Seamus Nicholson each got two assits. Burns, Lesser, Ty Parker, Dylan Drury and Logan McDougal each had one assist as Joe Salvador turned away 19 of Cazenovia’s 20 shots.
Now the Brothers went to Shove Park, remembering that, two weeks earlier, it had nearly got to overtime against West Genesee before a goal in the final second of regulation allowed the Wildcats to escape 2-1.
WG topped its total from that first meeting early in the playoff rematch, Joe McLaughlin, Jeremy Keyes and James Schneid each scoring in the first 11 minutes as CBA/J-D trailed 2-0 after one period.
Things settled down, but that didn’t help the Brothers, who kept the Wildcats off the board in the second period, yet could not get on the board.
Then WG sealed it with late goals by Jack Mellen and Liam Burns, setting up the semifinal where, again, F-M would try to conquer the Wildcats and earn a spot in next Monday’s sectional final against Syracuse or Baldwinsville.
