CENTRAL NEW YORK – As they went to the last week of the regular season, the Cicero-North Syracuse ice hockey team knew that it would be a part of the Section III Division I playoffs.
In a non-league game at Clinton last Thursday night, the Northstars engaged in an exciting battle, trading blows but able to emerge with a 6-5 overtime victory to climb back above the .500 mark to 9-8 overall.
Trailing the Warriors 2-1 through one period, C-NS scored four times in the second, grabbing a 5-4 edge, only to get shut out in the third by Clinton before being able to convert in the extra period.
Fittingly, Emmit Porter had a part in the game-winner, as he did on all six Northstars scoring plays as he finished the night with two goals and four assists.
Braden Porter also scored twice, with Hayden Scott and Cole Prevost each getting one goal and one assist. Logan Bucher and Drew Matyasik also had assists as Leyton Sullivan kept his team in front most of the way, finishing with 36 saves.
Liverpool was just 1-6-1 in league play going into last Tuesday’s game against Fayetteville-Manlius, with whom it shares the State Fair Coliseum, and lost again, 5-3, to the Hornets.
For two periods, this game was close, F-M constantly frustrated by the work of Liverpool goaltender James Welch, who finished the night with 38 saves.
All that pressure took a toll, though, and the Hornets, up 2-1 going to the third, got away late as Gavin Patnode, scoring twice, and Walker Thomson, with a goal and two assists, led a well-balanced attack.
Cole Broughton, with two assists, led the Warriors as Bradley Cole, Erol Abadzic and Calen Brown converted. Andrew Gabor also picked up an assist.
Playing again on Thursday night against Auburn at Casey Park, Liverpool proved stingy on the defensive side, yet still took a 1-0 defeat to the Maroons.
Trevor Smith took a turn in goal for the Warriors and recorded 24 saves, only surrendering Jack Pineau’s second-period goal, but that held up because none of Liverpool’s 22 shots got past Auburn goalie Mason Jones.
This week, Liverpool goes to Fulton and West Genesee to close out the regular season as C-NS would host Ontario Bay.
