All was setting up in place for the Skaneateles boys ice hockey team to have another celebration in March.
The Lakers were undefeated, already crowned Section III and regional Division II champions. All that was left was to go to Buffalo and, just like in 2019, claim another state title.
Then a pandemic crushed those dreams, and went on to alter or wipe out so many of the other plans area high school sports team had in place for the rest of 2020.
None hurt as much, though, as what happened to those hockey Lakers, for they were putting together one of the most dominant campaigns in recent memory.
Skaneateles played 23 games and only once was tied – 1-1 by Route 20 rival Auburn in mid-December. When those two sides met again at Casey Park on Jan. 29, the Lakers crushed the Maroons 10-0.
Of those 22 victories, 14 involved scoring at least five goals. There was a trio of 20-goal scorers, led by Garrett Krieger’s 27 (to go with 26 assists), Cole Heintz’s 22 and Charlie Russell’s 21, to go with 33 assists.
Charlie Major chimed in with a team-best 36 assists and Jack Henry finished with 19 goals, all of which helped Skaneateles plow through its opposition.
In January, Fayetteville-Manlius led late but the Lakers still pulled it out 5-3. In February, Clinton and Whitesboro both got close in 3-2 decisions.
But by the time the Lakers handled Whitesboro 5-1 in the sectional final and routed Starpoint 6-1 in the regional final, all signs pointed to another state crown.
When COVID-19 struck, some winter sports seasons were already complete, but the ice hockey and boys and girls basketball state tournaments were canceled, as was the entire spring sports season.
But boys and girls basketball did manage to complete their respective sectional tournaments, where a few local teams made some big noise.
Solvay’s boys team, featuring many of the same athletes that had won a football sectional Class B title the previous fall, got all the way to the Class B final before falling to defending champion Lowville.
Both teams from Marcellus made the sectional semifinals, with the girls Mustangs settiing a school record for wins (19) and nearly knocking off eventual champion South Jefferson in a 56-52 thriller.
By contrast, the West Genesee boys team that, led by Lucas Sutherland and Will Amica, won the 2019 state Class AA title suffered a defeat to Rome Free Academy in the sectional AA quarterfinals.
WG’s ice hockey team made it back to the War Memorial and the sectional Division I final, only to have the Syracuse Cougars, featuring several players from area schools, repeat their title from the year before.
Fall sports was altered, too, with football and volleyball deemed “high-risk” and moved to March and April 2021, though it did leave soccer, cross country, girls tennis and boys golf in place.
Taking full advantage of this, Skaneateles had undefeated league champions in boys cross country and girls tennis, and finished no. 10 in the state Class B rankings, four spots behind no. 6 Westhill, despite several players from the 2019 state Class B championship team going to club soccer.
Meanwhile, in girls soccer Marcellus shifted the balance of power in its long-standing rivalry with Westhill and finished no. 7 in the state Class B rankings thanks to a 10-2 overall record, with Shannon Kellar a first-team All-State selection.
If football takes place in 2021, Solvay will join Skaneateles, Bishop Ludden and Jordan-Elbridge in the Class C ranks as Marcellus and Westhill remain in Class B West.
