Whatever the actual results, just having a season was enough of a triumph for the CBA/Jamesville-DeWitt and Fayetteville-Manlius ice hockey teams.
Up until the end of January, New York State officials had not allowed “high-risk” sports like hockey to even practice, but once the go-ahead was given, the Brothers and Hornets quickly went to work.
CBA/J-D does so with a new home this winter – the Coliseum at the New York State Fairgrounds, to which it moved after a long tenure at Onondaga Nation Arena.
And the first game in that venue was last Saturday’s clash with reigning two-time Section III Division I champion Syracuse, who had beaten Cicero-North Syracuse 4-2 in its opener two nights earlier.
After a scoreless first period, the Brothers gave up a trio of second-period goals before a spirited late comeback fell just short in a 3-2 defeat.
This came just 24 hours after CBA/J-D’s opener, a 4-0 loss to Cortland-Homer at Allyn Arena in Skaneateles, which the Golden Eagles are using as a home venue this winter.
Joe Salvador, the Brothers’ goalie, stopped 35 of the 39 shots he faced, yet could not keep everything out as Jed Brazo led Cortland-Homer, scoring twice. Tanner Douglass and Andrew Partigianoni had the other goals.
F-M, of course, still plays at Cicero Twin Rinks, and that was where it began its seaosn last Friday night with a 4-2 defeat to the Baldwinsville Bees.
Already with a win in the books (a 7-0 shutout of Liverpool), B’ville would break out of a 1-1 tie in the second period by scoring twice and, more importantly, keeping the Hornets off the board.
John Manzi scored in the first period and returned in the final period to find the net again, with Jonas Oesterle assisting on both of F-M’s scoring plays and Jack Kent also earning an assist.
Chris Finger had a fine night in the net, recording 33 saves. B’ville’s four goals came from four different players – Matt Fawwaz, Luke Hoskin, Brayden Penafeather-Stevenson and Garrett Sutton – as Zach Cole and Leo Vona each got two assists.
