CENTRAL NEW YORK – Nearly everything important, in terms of regular-season ramifications, is in play Tuesday night when the West Genesee ice hockey team makes its way to Lysander to face Baldwinsville.
The Wildcats (14-2) and Bees (13-1) share first place in Division I, neither side having lost a league game, with B’ville’s lone blemish a loss to WG back on Nov. 30 and having since won 12 in a row.
There was no way WG would look ahead to B’ville, as was evident in Tuesday’s 10-1 romp over Rome Free Academy on the Black Knights’ home ice at Kennedy Arena.
Jack Mellen scored 3:30 into the game, and Will Shields converted less than 90 seconds later. Jack Desena and Michael Hard both added goals before the first period was over.
Then the Wildcats made it 9-1 by the end of the second, Will Schneid converting twice as Mellen, Shields and Michael Hard also picked up goals.
Considine added a third-period goal as Shields finished with a team-best three assists, Considine and Ryan Burns adding two assists apiece. Jonah Vormwold, Christian Ball and Jack Giannuzzi also had assists.
In Thursday’s 4-1 win over Auburn at Casey Park, WG completely controlled the game but ran into a dazzling performance from Maroons goaltender Mason Jones, who stopped 66 of the 70 shots he faced.
Still, the Wildcats did get at least one goal in each period as Schneid and Jared Jaeger both had one goal and one assist. Burns and Hard also scored, with Owen Zoanetti getting two assists. Vormwald, Mellen and Jacob Pensabene also earned assists.
This happened after Skaneateles, leading Division II and no. 4 in those state rankings, saw its game with Syracuse at Allyn Arena postponed by weather, to get made up Feb. 10.
However, it cleared up in time for the Lakers to travel to New Hartford Friday, attempting to maintain a three-game shutout streak and beat the same Spartans side it did exactly one week earlier.
Somehow, both things happened, Skaneateles this time blanking New Hartford 6-0 in a game that was scoreless until the Lakers scored twice in the second, adding four more goals in the third.
Henry Major scored three times for a hat trick, adding an assist. Andrew Gaglione, Sean Kerwick and Cole Palmer had one goal apiece, with Sutton Paro, Jack Marquardt and Alex Whitlock getting two assists apiece.
Again, Chad Lowe turned back everything, finishing with 25 saves, while Jack Bobbett, Mike Blowers, Casey Morrissey and Noah Testa had one assists apiece.
Syracuse stayed in third place in Division I, helped by last Tuesday’s 3-0 shutout of Mohawk Valley at Meachem Rink where Will Glass, Adam Frye and Chace Cogan each got goals, all in the last two periods. Grady Etoll, Mike Devereaux and Ben Thieben had one assist apiece as Jackson Suddaby stopped all 13 shots he faced.
Then Jameson Bucktooth sparked a Cougars comeback in Friday’s 4-2 win over Watertown IHC, all but taking over after the Cavaliers took a 2-1 lead with second-period goals from Luc LaFex and Sean Loveland.
Helping Syracuse tie it and then move in front, Bucktooth put together a three-goal hat trick, with Nick Rayfield getting the other goal. Frye, Owen Etoll and Patrick Sheridan joined Rayfield in the assist column as Suddaby, with a third-period shutout, finished with 21 saves.
Syracuse still has games against both West Genesee and B’ville in the last two weeks of the regular season.
