CICERO – When it played West Genesee to a 3-3 tie at Shove Park Dec. 19 the Cicero-North Syracuse ice hockey team discovered just what it might attain if playing at its highest level.
The Northstars did not let down from those efforts, either, winning back-to-back games on the road against Niskayuna (7-6) and Troy LaSalle (7-2) at Union College near Albany in the two days right after the game with the Wildcats.
Then a week later it was time for the annual C-NS Optimist Tournament, where the Northstars reserved all of the holiday cheer for itself by rampaging its way to the tournament title.
Broome County, from Section IV, was C-NS’s opening-round opponent, and it steadily went out in front but saved its best work for the third period of a 6-2 victory.
It was only 3-1 going into the third, but the Northstars doubled its margin with an attack anchored by the passing of Andrew Gabor and Emmit Porter, who each picked up three assists.
Only Nate Bustin scored twice, single goals going to Landon Russo, Cam Walker, Calen Brown and David Cooley. Alex Kirkby, Chase Mearon and Jake Roskopf had one assist apiece.
The final on Dec. 29 pitted C-NS against CBA/Jamesville-DeWitt, who topped New Hartford 3-1 to get to this point, and it didn’t take long for the Northstars to establish control.
Four unanswered goals in the first period put the game out of reach, C-NS eventually prevailing 6-1 as any hopes for a CBA/J-D rally was stifled by a defense led by goaltender Trevor Smith, who turned back 30 of 31 shots.
Bustin and Cooley both converted twice, Bustin adding an assist. Porter had a goal and assist, Gabe Springer adding a goal. Gabor earned two assists, with Kirkby, Mearon, Dylan Ling and Jase Knopp also earning assists.
This momentum carried over into the new year as, in last Friday night’s game against visiting Ithaca, the Northstars needed every bit of its firepower to pull out a 7-5 victory over the Little Red.
Things were relatively quiet until the second period when the Northstars, up 1-0, increased its output only to get caught by Ithaca and find itself even, 3-3, with one period left.
Yet C-NS burned the Little Red by scoring five times in that final period, the attack led by Porter, who accumulated six points overall thanks to his two goals and four assists.
Bustin scored twice and got two assists. Knopp also notched a pair of goals as Gabor got a goal and two assists, Kirkby adding one goal and one assist. Austin Clarke also managed an assist.
So at the midway point of the regular season C-NS was 7-2-1, its only game this week a trip to Nexus Center in Utica to face Mohawk Valley.
