CENTRAL NEW YORK – All season long the Cazenovia ice hockey team has hovered between comfortable mediocrity and a chance to do something bigger, waiting to see where it would ultimately stand.
At the very least, the Lakers wanted a definitive run after a string of three consecutive ties to open 2025 – 2-2 against Syracuse and Baldwinsvlle, 4-4 against Fayetteville-Manlius.
It took the presence of 2-7-1 CNY Fusion to finally break Cazeovia out of this string, a comprehensive effort where offensive production and defensive consistency produced a 6-1 victory.
No single surge was needed. Instead, the Lakers simply put in two goals each period, with Jake Hightchew at the forefront as he scored twice and added an assist.
Jack Casey and Will Lemblach both got one goal and one assist, with Shamus Newcomb and Joey Dinatale also finding the net. Justin Shantal, Jack Frazee, Dylan George and Vinny Dinatale added assists and the Lakers took 42 shots to Fusion’s 18.
Unable to face Ontario Bay on Wednesday night, Cazenovia returned to action Friday in the opening round of the Lamont Nicholson Tournament at Haldane Arena against Watertown IHC, the same team it beat 4-3 at the Morrisville State IcePlex late in December.
But this game would not have a goal on either side in regulation or overtime, the standoff remaining 0-0 and requiring a shootout to determine who would go to the finals.
Brayden Hull, who had already recorded a shutout, turned back all of IHC’s shootout chances, while on the other end Henry Frazee was finally able to convert and, by a 1-0 margin, Cazenovia moved on to play Buffalo’s Bishop Timon on Saturday afternoon.
Again it would go to overtime and again it would end up tied, this time 3-3 as the Lakers were able to see Casey, Finn Hagan and Henry Miller each put in goals during regulation.
When it came to a second shootout in as many days, Hull again stepped up and made clutch stops. This, along with conversions by Miller and Newcomb, produced a tournament title for Cazenovia.
All of this left the Lakers with plenty of momentum going into another set of back-to-back games early this week, first against Baldwinsville at Colgate University’s Alumni Arena and then against Mohawk Valley at the IcePlex a night later.
