CICERO – Maybe more than at any time in program history, the Cicero-North Syracuse ice hockey team believes that it can get to the Section III Division I championship game and perhaps even win it.
A regular season where the Northstars have gone 15-3-2 and, among other things, twice played defending champion and state no. 1-ranked West Genesee to 3-3 ties was the source of this belief.
So too, though, was the way C-NS did not hold up against competition it expected to beat, as was the case on Jan. 31 when the Northstars routed Auburn 7-1 at the Twin Rinks.
Steadily C-NS built a 3-0 margin through two periods before more than doubling that total in the third, Emmit Porter and Jase Knopp each picking up three assists as six different players netted goals.
Only Nate Bustin converted twice, with Porter joined by Andrew Gabor, David Cooley, Gabe Springer and Evan Sobolewski getting single goals. Jake Roskopf had two assists as single assists went to Alex Kirkby, Calen Brown, Rob Warner and Landon Russo.
Still at the Twin Rinks last Tuesday to face Ontario Bay, C-NS rolled again, stopping the Storm 6-1 by bolting out to a 5-0 advantage through two periods.
Austin Clarke’s three assists anchored a well-balanced attack where only Bustin would score twice. Dylan Ling and Cam Walker each had one goal and one assist, with Knopp and Brown also converting. Porter earned two assists and single assists went to Gabor and Cooley.
Two nights later, the Northstars were supposed to go north for a key game against Watertown IHC but it got snowed out. It is scheduled to get made up Tuesday night and a postponed game against Rome Free Academy might get made up, too, though it’s likely RFA will still get the no. 2 seed and C-NS the no. 3 seed so they would be lined up for a possible sectional semifinal two weeks from now.
