ONONDAGA COUNTY – The mounting evidence throughout the month of February suggested that the West Genesee ice hockey team was best served by the defeat it took to Baldwinsville on the last day of January.
Ever since, the Wildcats had gone on a scoring rampage, reaching a dozen goals three times in four games, including Thursday night’s post-season opener at Shove Park.
When it welcomed Cazenovia to Camillus, WG barely took a period to match its goal total from that initial meeting with the Lakers and went much further on the way to knocking out the Lakers 12-3.
They had first played Dec. 14 at the SUNY-Morrisville IcePlex, where WG won 5-1. Here, Will Schneid got WG on the board 5:20 into the first period and Cazenovia answered it with Logan Hull’s goal, but that would prove the Lakers’ high point.
Jack Giannuzzi, Owen Zoanetti and Jack Mellen all converted late in the first for the Wildcats to gain a 4-1 advantage. And even as Jack Donlin scored twice for Cazenovia on power plays in the second, the margin kept growing.
Schneid added two goals to complete his hat trick. Then Jared Jaeger hit on back-to-back goals, one of them short-handed, and Ryan Considine found the net less than a minute before the period ended.
Though the game was well in hand, WG still kept Cazenovia off the board late as Schneid tacked on a fourth goal to go with his three assists, aided by goals from Liam Burns and Will Shields.
A big irony for the Wildcats is that it also scored 12 goals against Syracuse on Feb. 2, yet meets again in the sectional semifinals if the no. 3 seed Cougars got by Ontario Bay in its quarterfinal game.
Syracuse did so, overcoming a rough start to win 6-4 as the Storm grabbed a 2-0 advantage in the first period and stayed out in front through the game’s middle stages.
The third belonged to the Cougars, though, a 4-1 push led by Nick Rayfield, who poured in a career-best four goals overall as Jameson Bucktooth got two goals and one assist.
Adam Frye netted two assists, with single assists going to Pat Sheridan and Owen Etoll. Jackson Suddaby had 24 saves.
While all this was going on, Skaneateles enjoyed the rest gained by earning another top seed in the sectional Division II playoffs.
The stepladder format meant that the bottom four seeds played in an opening round, with the winners getting the no. 3 and 4 seeds in the next round before the Lakers and no. 2 seed Cortland-Homer hosted semifinals.
As it turned out, the top seeds all survived, no. 4 seed Clinton beating Whitesboro 7-3 and no. 3 seed CBA/Jamesville-DeWitt topping New Hartford 5-2.
Thus, in Tuesday’s semifinals it would be Skaneateles against Clinton and Cortland-Homer against CBA/J-D, the winners advancing to next Monday’s title game at Upstate Medical University Arena at the War Memorial.
