CENTRAL NEW YORK – Other than a Dec. 2 defeat to Auburn, the Cicero-North Syracuse ice hockey team has proved quite impressive during its first quarter of the regular season.
The Northstars swept a northern road trip on Dec. 9-10, starting with a visit to Canton where it kept the opposition off the board and roared its way to a 6-0 shutout.
Scoring twice in each period, C-NS had a well-balanced attack. Devin Freeman notched a pair of goals, with single tallies going to Tanner Long, Tyler Milewski, Braden Porter and William Madely.
Long also picked up two assists, a total matched by Emmit Porter as single assists went to Andrew Davis, Kyle Debejian, Cam Walker, Rob Warner and Nick Tangretti. In goal, Kaii Van Iuven stopped all 23 shots he faced.
Then C-NS faced Potsdam the following afternoon and, while unable to keep the Sandstoners off the board, was still able to win again by a comfortable 7-2 margin.
Here, the second period proved decisive as the Northars, already up 2-1, pulled clear from Potsdam with four unanswered goals, led by Debejian, who scored twice and got a pair of assists.
Freeman and Tangretti both had one goal and one assist. Jack Clary and Drew Matyaski chimed in with goals as Warner, Logan Bucher, Brayden McAllister and Noah Degan had one assist apiece.
Now the Northstars would battle Cazenovia Tuesday night at Colgate University. It was the Lakers’ “home” opener after starting with three consecutive road wins, and it proved those efforts were not a fluke as it handed the Northstars a 4-1 defeat.
Defense ruled in the first two periods, Cazenovia only able to gain a 1-0 advantage. C-NS had a fair share of chances, too, but was stymied by Cazenovia goalie Cy McCrink, who finished with 24 saves.
The Nortshtars did get on the board in the third period, but Cazenovia still pulled away, led by Forrest Ives, who scored twice in that final period as Dan Scholl also converted.
Liverpool returned to action Wednesday night, going north to face Watertown IHC and rallying late to secure a 1-1 tie with the Cavaliers.
Jayden Romig’s first-period goal nearly held up for IHC, the game remaining 1-0 until the third period, when the Warriors finally broke through thanks to Matt Markusz’s goal assisted by Kyle Kirkby.
Neither team would convert in OT, with James Welch stopping 33 of the Cavaliers’ 34 shots as IHC goalie Kaleb Rudderforth had 25 saves of his own.
