ONONDAGA COUNTY – Area high school ice hockey hit some interruptions during the holiday season, with West Genesee seeing two weeks of games (four in all) postponed, including its own Wildcat Classic, even as it staked a claim to the no. 2 spot in the first state Division I rankings of the winter.
On the other hand, Skaneateles kept going – and so did its extraordinary unbeaten streak, expanding to 65 straight when it put away Whitesboro 9-0 on Dec. 23 at Allyn Arena.
Whitesboro was off to a 4-1-1 start, and no doubt noticed that, two days earlier, the state Division II no. 1-ranked Lakers had to go all the way to the wire to hold off New Hartford 2-1 to keep the unbeaten streak alive.
But Skaneateles was not about to let that happen again.
Four different players – Carter Corbett, Henry Major, Andrew Gaglione and Luke Renaud – all put in goals during the first period to help the Lakers take charge.
More would follow as Garrett Krieger would score twice in the last two periods to go with his pair of assists, while Gaglione, Renaud and Major each added second goals.
All told, Renaud had six points due to his four assists. Major got three assists as Andrew Falkenberg earned two assists. Single assists went to Jack Torrey, Colin Morrissey, Curran McGowan and Jack Weeks as Chad Lowe stopped all 13 Whitesboro shots he faced.
Now the Lakers would rest until a game against Clinton Tuesday and the Duke Schneider Memorial Tournament later in the week, with state Division I no. 4-ranked Baldwinsville one of the possible opponents.
The Syracuse Cougars had gone through its own COVID-19 pause late in December, with games against Rochester McQuaid and CBA/Jamesville-DeWitt postponed.
But the Cougars returned in time for the Optimist Tournament at Cicero Twin Rinks, getting into action in Wednesday’s opening round with a tough 2-1 victory over Liverpool.
Owning the no. 12 state Division I ranking, Syracuse bolted to a 2-0 first-period lead thanks to goals by Vern Cooke and Brady Hubbard, with Owen Etoll, Colin Johnson and Owen Mahar earning assists.
For the rest of the game, though, the Cougars were stymied as Liverpool goalie James Welch recorded 39 saves to keep his team close.
The Warriors cut the margin to one with Matt Markusz’s second-period goal, but could not pull even, held to just 13 shots overall by a consistent Cougars defense.
So Syracuse advanced to Thursday’s final against host Cicero-North Syracuse, who survived a long shoot-out with New Hartford in the other opening-round game.
And with a four-goal outburst in the second period, the Cougars broke the game open, eventually beating the Northstars 7-3 as Johnson, Mahar and Jameson Bucktooth each scored twice.
Hubbard earned the other goal, joining Bucktooth and Mahar in getting two assists as Cooke, Mike Madigan, Patrick Sheridan and Ben Thieben also earned assists. In goal, Conor Rose stopped 29 of C-NS’s 32 shots.
