CENTRAL NEW YORK – For very different reasons, what the West Genesee and Skaneateles boys ice hockey teams accomplished in last Tuesday’s pair of rivalry games spoke loudly about their status and their intentions.
In the Wildcats’ case, going to Baldwinsville and registering a 9-1 victory over the Bees proved that the gap between these long-time rivals might be as large as ever.
The Lakers had a bit of a different sense of accomplishment, for topping Auburn 7-1 at Allyn Arena not only validated its superiority in the Route 20 Rivalry but also served as a healthy bounce-back for a program which hasn’t needed them much.
When it went to Lysander, WG was playing its third game of the season and was 4-0, not exactly ideal for a B’ville side which had not played a game yet.
Sure enough, the Wildcats jumped out 4-0 on B’ville by the end of the first period, then keep adding to its margin until the Bees’ Mitch Burlingame broke up the shutout in the third period.
WG took 44 shots overall and Jacob Pensabene converted three of them into a hat trick, with six other WG players netting single goals as Christian Ball earned a goal and two assists.
Nick Meluni and Kaiden McBride also had two-assist outings. Jonah Vormwold, Riley McAloon, Carson Berg, Greg Wood and Logan Dewaters put in goals and single assists went to Parker Berg, Hunter Cole, Angelo Caruso, Matt Schneid and Mike Vetter.
As for Skaneateles, the rare back-to-back losses it took (to WG and Fayetteville-Manlius) in the Ice Breaker Tournament was all the fuel needed to get back into gear, as Auburn found out.
Racing to a quick 3-1 edge through one period, the Lakers shut out the Maroons the rest of the way and spread things around thanks partially to Luke Bobbett, who set a career mark with four assists.
Sutton Paro and Cole Palmer each scored twice with Luke Mizro, Nate Olsen and Kaden Rutledge adding goals. Paro got an assist, as did Tye Kennedy, Asher Kozub, Henry Badami, Jack Bobbett, Deakin Redding, Braedan Taggart and Jackson Tank.
On the road Friday to face a New Hartford side which allowed 14 goals to CBA/Jamesville-DeWitt earlier in the week, Skaneateles didn’t get close to that total but still rolled to a 6-1 win over the Spartans.
Rutledge, Mizro and Luke Bobbett netted two goals apiece and Bobbett tacked on three assists. Luke Logan and Jack Bobbett joined Rutledge and Mizro getting single assists. Only 58 saves from New Hartford goalie Rocco Mastorvito-Smith kept it from getting out of hand.
Back on Thursday night WG went to the Morrisville State IcePlex to face Cazenovia, off to a 2-1 start, and it would control matters from start to finish defeating the Lakers 4-0.
Luke Beck stopped all 19 shots he faced as the Wildcats took 45 shots, with four different players – Vormwold, McAloon, Ball and Jacob Pensabene – getting the four goals. Jackson Pensabene was part of a group of players with single assists which included Schneid, Ryan Long, Carson Berg, and Evan Zoanetti.
Syracuse managed to beat Fayetteville-Manlius for the second time in as many weeks, following up its Dec. 2 win in the Ice Breaker Tournament by topping the Hornets 5-3 in the rematch at Cicero Twin Rinks.
The first period proved the difference as the Cougars jumped out to a 3-0 advantage, then mostly matched what the Hornets produced in the last two periods as Conor Rose was sensational in goal, recording 37 saves.
Nick Rayfield led the Syracuse attack, scoring twice and adding a pair of assists. Drew Schneider and Will Scanlon each had one goal and one assist, the other goal going to Ghao Shenandoah as Grady Etoll, Ryan Victoriano and Braylon Amidon earned assists.
Then Syracuse crushed CNY Fusion 9-1 on Thursday night, taking 59 shots overall and breaking it open with a five-goal second period led by Shenandoah, who set a career mark with four goals.
Jacob Abbott converted twice, with single goals going to Rayfield, Schendier and Hayden Halbritter. Rayfield tacked on a pair of assists, which Etoll and Victoriano equaled.
