ONONDAGA COUNTY – A combination of stifling defense and potent, well-timed scoring bursts put the West Genesee and Skaneateles ice hockey teams a single victory away from repeating as Section III champions.
In Tuesday’s Division I semifinal at Shove Park, the Wildcats, led by Liam Burns’ hat trick, again turned away the challenge of Syracuse, prevailing over the Cougars by a 4-0 margin.
It was far more lopsided at Allyn Arena in the Division II semifinals, where a Lakers side growing accustomed to shutouts did it again – and also put a steady stream of pucks into the net – during a 10-0 victory over Clinton.
That it was a closer game in Camillus may have surprised some, since WG had beaten this same Syracuse side 12-4 earlier this month, suggesting a considerable gap between the two neighboring programs.
However, the Cougars had played well for most of January and February, and thanks to its defense, would spend large portions of the game keeping most of the Wildcats’ stars from finding the net.
Burns proved the exception, though.
Twice in the first period, Burns put shots past Syracuse goalie Jackson Suddaby, with Will Shields assisting on the first goal and Michael Hard the second.
It took just 26 seconds in the second period for Burns to make it 3-0, completing his hat trick, with Hard adding a goal less than six minutes later as Ryan Considine and Jack Mellen picked up assists.
Suddaby, to his credit, kept everything else away, but his 42 saves reflected the fact that WG kept the puck in the Cougars’ end for long stretches and rarely let the visitors attack.
And in those rare instances, what often happened was that the Wildcats’ defenders handled it, limiting Syracuse to six shots, all stopped by Luke Beck.
Up at Skaneateles, the story for much of the last two months was the way goalie Chad Lowe and the rest of the Lakers were putting up a series of shutouts – six in all – and surrendered just three total goals during a nine-game win streak.
Against Clinton, the defense could afford to relax given that, in the opening period, Skaneateles erupted for six goals and, what was more encouraging, spread those goals around.
Seven different players would find the net, led by Jack Torrey’s three-goal hat trick as Alex Whitlock scored twice and Henry Major, the team’s top scorer, had a goal and three assists.
Casey Morrissey scored and added a pair of assists. Jack Marquardt and Sean Kerwick each had one goal and one assist as Ben Patterson got a goal and assists went to Andrew Gaglione, Andrew Falkenberg, Jack Bobbett, Luke Bobbett, Noah Testa and Sutton Paro.
Taking 49 shots overall, Skaneateles allowed 15 to Clinton, which Lowe stopped, bringing the Lakers back to the sectional final where, on Monday at Upstate Medical University Arena at the War Memorial, it would face CBA/Jamesville-DeWitt, who rallied to beat Cortland-Homer 4-3 in the other semifinal.
