SYRACUSE – Just by getting to overtime in Monday night’s Section III Division II championship game the Christian Brothers Academy/Jamesville-DeWitt ice hockey had gone far beyond what anyone outside its locker room expected.
Taking the reigning two-time state champions from Skaneateles to overtime was remarkable enough. Actually winning it seemed even more far-fetched.
And it did prove too much to ask, though in the course of a 3-2 defeat at Upstate Medical University Arena CBA/J-D displayed a season’s worth of grit and determination.
Twice the Brothers trailed in the third period and twice it pulled back even. Justin Buffum was sensational, turning back 40 Skaneateles before Luke Mizro beat him for the game-winner 7:32 into OT.
Recent history did not favor the Brothers making this an instant classic. Aside from the 8-1 defeat it took in the 2024 sectional there were 6-0 and 8-1 defeats to the Lakers when they met this winter.
But that was before CBA/J-D went on its late-season surge, ultimately bringing a six-game win streak to downtown Syracuse and a determination to, at the very least, make Skaneateles work much harder than usual.
It all went to plan in a scoreless first period, from 11 saves by Buffum to blocked shots by a defense which never let the Lakers get any odd-man rushes.
Though the attacks were rare, the Brothers nearly got in front nine minutes into the game, a wraparound chance that Lakers goalie Danny Angelina had to stop with his glove right on the goal line.
This marked just the fourth time all season an opponent had shut out Skaneateles in the opening period. Keeping that up, and gaining more chances on the other end, held the key to a possible upset.
CBA/J-D did get some good opportunities early in the second, but it stayed 0-0. Then, near the eight-minute mark of the period, the Lakers broke through. Buffum had stopped Mizro right in front of the net seconds earlier, but here a Braedon Taggart shot fluttered through Buffum’s pads into the net.
Again the defense stepped up and the Brothers kept the deficit at 1-0 going to the third, where early it killed off a power play and had Grady Shanly and Jack Dement both get short-handed chances turned back by Angelina.
Energized by this, on its own power play CBA/J-D made it 1-1 thanks to Logan Novak, who took the puck in his own end, eluded several Skaneteles defenders, faked right then went left to beat Angelina with 13:25 to play.
The tie lasted less than two minutes. A five-minute major penalty to Brody Novak led to an extended Lakers power play where Kaden Rutledge scored from nearly the same spot where Taggart had converted.
Again the Brothers weren’t done. After both teams had possible goals reviewed and negated, with 6:22 left a Brothers power play led to Jack Dement converting from the left circle with 6:06 to play.
They played on even terms the rest of regulation, with great chances to win it on both ends turned back, including one where Dement had a point-blank look but Anglelina stopped it.
Almost from the opening face-off of OT the Brothers were in a defensive mode, especially when it had to kill off two different power plays.
One penalty was killed off, but on the second one Mizro fired a wrist shot from the left circle into the net and again the Lakers were sectional champions.
