CENTRAL NEW YORK – Just when it seemed that a promising season for the Skaneateles girls ice hockey team was fading away, it put together its most important period of the winter.
Over the course of 15 minutes in Thursday night’s game against reigning state champion Clinton at Allyn Arena, it wiped out a three-goal deficit and, by doing so, salvaged a 3-3 tie with the Comets.
Recent history in this rivalry wasn’t kind to Skaneateles, from the 1-0 overtime defeat in last winter’s Section III final to a 3-2 loss at Clinton Arena earlier in the month. Of the last eight times these teams had met, the Lakers had only prevailed once.
And it didn’t look good here, either, when the Comets’s Kelsey Fuller struck for a pair of first-period goals and then, in the second, found the net again for her hat trick.
But from the moment the puck dropped at the start of the third, the Lakers’ urgency was on display, immediately attacking on a power play and, just 17 seconds into the frame, cutting it to 3-1 on Taryn McDonald’s goal.
When Lily Kennedy found the net barely three minutes later off a feed from McDonald, it was 3-2, and as the period wore on Skaneateles fended off all of Clinton’s chances.
Then the Lakers, short-handed, had to pull goalie Sarah Domin, keeping it five-on-five – and on a breakaway, Kennedy, again taking a pass from McDonald, found ice and, with 1:04 left in regulation, put the puck past Emily Payne to tie it.
Through the end of regulation and 90-plus seconds of overtime, the Lakers killed off Clinton’s power play, and were able to stay even until the end, its patience paying off against Payne, who had 37 saves. Cora Major and Sam Catalfano both were credited with assists during that late surge.
Before all this, Skaneateles met Ithaca on Tuesday, having twice beat the Little Red when they met earlier this season.
Here, though, Ithaca prevailed 4-0, scoring twice in each of the last two periods and seeing goalie Shelly Howells turn back all 31 of the Lakers’ shots. McKenna Syer had one goal and one assist as Emerson Chiuten-Black, Hailey Baughan and Camryn Benhock earned the other goaos.
This, along with the start against Clinton, nearly led to a fifth defeat in seven games. Instead, the Lakers felt much better about itself heading into Friday night’s regular-season finale against Oswego, where it dominated from start to finish in a 6-0 shutout of the Buccaneers.
A three-goal second period broke the game open, Skaneateles building upon its 1-0 edge and displaying its depth as Major, with four assists, led an attack with six different goal-scorers.
Kennedy and Grace Marquardt each earned two assists, with Kendra Garlock, Finley Hogan and Makayla Barron joining Major, Kennedy and McDonald as goal-scorers. Brooke Coffey stopped all 16 shots she faced.
And it all leads to the Section III playoffs, where Skaneateles is the no. 3 seed and Clinton the no. 2 seed, meaning the two rivals will duel once more next Wednesday night in the semifinals at Utica’s Nexus Center, the winner to get Ithaca or Oswego in the Feb. 7 final at Onondaga Nation Arena.
