CENTRAL NEW YORK – Through the first half of the regular season, the Cicero-North Syracuse ice hockey team struggled to find any kind of consistency on a game-to-game basis.

But it had to encourage every Northstars fan to see how it did in both its own Optimist Tournament and especially in Thursday night’s 1-1 tie with reigning state Division I champion West Genesee at the Twin Rinks.

The Wildcats, winners of six in a row and no. 3 in the state Division I poll, saw C-NS jump out of the gate by taking the game’s first eight shots and answer a power-play goal from Nick Meluni with a short-handed tally from Tyler Milewski in the final seconds of the first period.

From there, goalie Leyton Sullivan took over. He stopped all 15 WG shots he faced in the second period and kept it going late in the third period, thwarting Jonah Vormwold on a last-minute breakaway to send it to overtime.

Then, as time ran out in OT, Sullivan again came through, stopping Jesse Desena and Christian Ball point-blank for his 34th and 35th saves to preserve the tie.

Before all this,, the Northstars took a 4-4-1 record into its own Optimist Tournament, but began play there Dec. 28 with its most comprehensive performance of the season as it blanked Christian Brothers Academy/Jamesville-DeWitt 5-0.

CBA/J-D would end up taking more shots in this game, but none of its 26 attempts got past Sullivan, while on the other end it was all about Nate Bustin and Andrew Davis.

In each of the three periods, Bustin and Matyasik were able to put home shots, Bustin ultimately getting a three-goal hat trick and Davis earning two assists while also scoring twice. Matyasik, Cole Prevost, David Cooley and Chase Mearon got assists, too.

Another Division II contender, New Hartford, would face C-NS in the Dec. 29 championship game, and it would go beyond regulation and overtime before the Northstars, in a shoot-out, edged the Spartans.

Cam Walker’s early goal got C-NS in front, but New Hartford blanked them for the rest of the first two periods. Sean Elbrecht and Anthony Falvo converted to give the Spartans a 2-1 lead, which held through two periods.

Then Davis and Hayden Scott got consecutive goals early in the third, but the Northstars’ 3-2 advantage didn’t hold, either, Jake Hill tying it for New Hartford late in regulation.

Overtime didn’t settle the game as Sullivan worked his total to 40 saves. So it went to a shoot-out, which dragged through 11 rounds without a resolution as both sides missed multiple chances to end it.

Finally, in the 12th round Bustin, who had missed an earlier attempt, put it past Derek Joy to end the contest. Joy, before that point, had recorded 29 saves.

The combined team from Liverpool and Fulton known as CNY Fusion earned yet another win on Dec. 28 against Geneseo, prevailing 4-1 to move to 5-2-1 on the season.

A pair of first-period tallies got Fusion in front for good, with Gavin Rodman ultimately netting two goals and the others going to Alex Kirkby and John LaPlante. Dan Devendorf, John Eichenlofer and Calen Brown had one assist apiece.

Off until 2024, Fusion started the new year with a tough game against Fayetteville-Manlius Wednesday night but, once again, proved that its strong start was not a fluke, beating the Hornets 4-1.

F-M was coming off winning the Dec. 28-29 Cortland-Homer Tournament, yet found itself unable to get a shot past Fusion goalie Trevor Smith until the third period, Smith ultimately stopping 25 of the Hornets’ 26 shots.

Fusion, up 2-0 going to the third period, put it away late, ultimately having four different goal-scorers – Rodman, Kirkby, LaPlante and Andrew Gabor. Will Burns had two assists as Rodman, Devendorf, Jack Hurley and Dylan Ling all had assists, too.

Now Fusion would get nine days to rest, practice and get ready for this Friday’s trip to Shove Park and the same chance to measure itself against West Genesee that C-NS had the week before.