SYRACUSE – If it’s getting close to March, it must mean that the Skaneateles boys ice hockey team is, once again, in pursuit of a state Division II championship, having torn through the Section III ranks to add another title to its long record of glory.
Anchored by the superb goaltending of league Player of the Year Chad Lowe, the Lakers turned back Christian Brothers Academy/Jamesville-DeWitt 4-0 in Monday night’s sectional final at Upstate Medical University Arena at the War Memorial.
Through nine periods and 153 total minutes of ice time this winter, not once did the Brothers put a shot past Lowe, who in the sectional final gathered 33 saves and as before, got just enough scoring help from his Skaneateles teammates.
“We stuck to the game plan, and it worked in the end,” said Lowe.
Skaneateles head coach Mitch Major said that the high quality of Lowe’s work in the net allows his team to have a defense-first approach, which certainly worked against the CBA/J-D.
Of the 10 shutouts Skaneateles earned prior to this sectional game, two of them came against the Brothers, a 4-0 verdict in December at Allyn Arena and then, a month later in Nedrow, a 3-0 decision.
Despite all this, CBA/J-D, according to Major, had a strong game plan on this night, keeping the Skaneateles offense quiet for long stretches while it tried, in vain, to solve Lowe.
It was scoreless most of the first period until, with 3:10 left in the frame, Jack Torrey broke free on the left and put a wrist shot past Ben Lovell, Alex Whitlock and Noah Testa getting the assists.
Meanwhile, Lowe stopped all eight shots he faced, including a point-blank stop on Quinn Wimer, and carried that over into a second period that the Brothers mostly controlled, adding nine more saves and denying CBA/J-D twice on power plays.
All of this happened while it was still 1-0. Then, with 3:40 left in the second, defenseman Sutton Paro threaded a perfect pass from the left at center ice to Henry Major streaking up the middle, and Major poured in his 25th goal of the season to double the Lakers’ margin.
Major returned to land his 26th goal early in the third period, and Andrew Gaglione scored on a power play with 4:27 left as Lowe made 16 more saves to move his career shutout total to 20.
Mitch Major said that Lowe’s work ethic is “unbelievable” but also gave full credit to Testa, Paro, Andrew Falkenberg, Kaden Rutledge, Luke Logan and Jack Bobbett on the defense for blocking shots and protecting Lowe.
Now Skaneateles was back in the regional round, where it lost in 2022 to Webster Thomas and was determined not to get stopped this time.
Again, a Section V champion was the opponent on Saturday, but it was Webster Schroeder that stood between the Lakers and a return to the state “Frozen Four”, and the game was on home ice at Allyn Arena.
In a more familiar setting, the Lakers got off to something close to a perfect start and then, again, turned the rest to Lowe and the defense as it shut out the Warriors 4-0.
The packed home crowd was roaring right away when Gaglione and Cole Palmer each recorded first-period goals. Gaglione struck again early in the second, assisted by Henry Major, and Alex Whitlock converted later in the period.
But the Lakers only needed one since Lowe, again, was close to perfect. He turned away all 22 of Schroeder’s shots and, by doing so, set a new state record for shutouts at 21, passing the mark once held by Mamaroneck’s Tommy Spero.
More history could be made in Buffalo’s HarborCenter this weekend. Skaneateles faces Salmon River in Saturday’s state semifinal at 11:20 a.m., the winner to get to Sunday’s final against Pelham or Saranac.
