SKANEATELES – Male or female, it did not matter one bit for anyone facing a Skaneateles ice hockey team in the last full week of January because most of the games resulted in lopsided shutouts.
Still undefeated, the girls Lakers had, perhaps, its most important test of the regular season last Friday night when Adirondack United paid a visit to Allyn Arena.
This was the same Adirondack team who routed Skaneateles 6-1 in the 2024 state regional semifinal on the way to winning at the “Frozen Four” in Utica, and every Lakers player remembered it – Genevieve Smart in particular.
It was Smart who took over in this rematch and helped Skaneateles prevail 3-1, starting with a first-period goal to answer one from Adirondack and then breaking the 1-1 tie with the eventual game-winner in the second.
Capping off her effort, Smart landed a third goal in the final period for the hat trick, having seen Grace Marquardt and Cora Major both earn two assists and Layla Smart add an assist while, on the other end, Brooke Coffey stopped 23 of Adirondack’s 24 shots.
Before all this, the Lakers returned to action at Ithaca and, putting together one of its best offensive performances of the season, routed the Little Red 7-1.
Having not played in 10 days since a Jan. 13 shutout of Clinton, the Lakers jumped out quickly on an Ithaca side it beat 6-2 in December. Leading 3-0 after one period.
After a mid-game lull Skaneateles, up 3-1, put it away with four unanswered goals in the final period as Major and Smart both notched three goals overall to carry the attack.
Lily Kennedy had the other goal, joining Marquardt earning two assists as Sarah Domin had a solid showing in the net, stopping 19 of the Little Red’s 20 shots.
Back atop the state Division II rankings, the Skaneateles boys ice hockey team put up another dominant performance last Tuesday pummeling Oswego 9-0.
Even with the Buccaneers’ 9-5-1 record going into the game it found itself overwhelmed by a Lakers attack which got more potent as the night went on thanks largely to Luke Bobbett, who set a career mark with five assists and also scored twice.
Luke Mizro got a three-goal hat trick plus a pair of assists. Tye Kennedy also converted twice, with Kaden Rutledge and Cole Palmer each earning a goal and two assists. Braedan Taggart had two assists and single assists went to Jack Bobbett, Henry Badami and Deakin Redding.
More of this followed on Thursday night against visiting Clinton, yet another 9-0 romp which was largely informed by what took place when these two teams met at Clinton Arena in December.
In that game the Comets actually led 2-1 through two periods and got 37 saves from goaltender Garrett Bauer, but a late Lakers surge fueled by another Mizro hat trick produced a 4-2 victory.
Things were far different in the rematch. Attacking and scoring at will, Skaneateles got all of its goals in the first two periods and would take 53 shots overall against Bauer and Carter Jarvis, who split time in the net.
Rutledge scored twice and got three assists, with Luke Bobbett and Braedan Taggart also getting two goals and Mizro equaling Rutledge’s trio of assists to go with his 20th goal of the season.
Kennedy also finished with three assists as Luke Logan and Sutton Paro notched single goals. Palmer earned two assists, while Jack Bobbett, Addison Taggart and Gavin Schell earned assists.