SYRACUSE – Win enough times by big enough margins, as the Skaneateles boys ice hockey team has done, and anything other than this can seem unusual, if not concerning.
Monday night’s Section III Division II championship game at Upstate Medical University Arena turned into such a game, with Christian Brothers Academy/Jamesville-DeWitt pushing the Lakers the way few others have done in recent post-season memory, all the way into overtime.
Still, Skaneateles prevailed 3-2 on Luke Mizro’s power-play goal 7:32 into the extra period keeping alive its dream of a third consecutive state title in coach Mitch Major’s final season on the bench.
Mizro said that this sectional title was more satisfying than previous ones because it was so close and competitive, and that before the OT period he and his fellow seniors were aware of the stakes.
“We knew this could be our last game together, so we had to give it everything we got,” said Mizro.
Major said he did not feel any extra stress despite the high stakes, and perhaps that reflected on his players taking control in the extra period and constantly putting pressure on CBA/J-D goaltender Justin Buffum, who was on his way to 40 saves.
That pressure led to two power plays in the OT. The Brothers killed one off, but on the second try Mizro, denied many other times throughout the night, sent a wrist shot from the left point past Buffum and triggered another championship celebration for Lakers players and fans alike.
Familiarity was part of the equation here. This was a rematch of the 2024 sectional final Skaneateles won 8-1, and their regular-season meetings this season had gone in the same direction, the Lakers taking them by 6-1 and 8-0 margins.
Since those games, though, CBA/J-D had won six in a row and entered the title game in its best form of the season, and everything went the way the Brothers wanted early, from Buffum’s work in the net to blocked shots to a couple of scoring chances which Danny Angelina had to turn away, including a stop right on the goal line on a wraparound chance nine minutes into the game.
It was just the fourth time all season an opponent had shut out Skaneateles in the first period and it remained 0-0 well into the second, with the Lakers gradually increasing the pace which finally paid off near the midway point of the frame.
Moments after Buffum stopped Mizro on a close-in opportunity, Braedan Taggart floated a puck from the point at twice the distance that found a way past Buffum into the net, and Skaneateles was in front.
It stayed 1-0 to the third period. With 13:25 left near the end of a Brothers power play, Logan Novak picked up the puck near his own net, skated around several Skaneateles defenders and put it past Angelina low, tying the game.
Less than two minutes later Brody Novak took a five-minute major penalty for a check from behind. Heavy pressure followed and Kaden Rutledge, from nearly the same spot where Taggart converted earlier, fired in a wrist shot with 10:26 left.
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.
But Mizro would get the final say, and Skaneateles was again on its way to the state Division II tournament.
On Saturday night at Allyn Arena the Lakers will face the Section X at-large team in the regional final with the winner advancing to the state “Frozen Four” March 15-16 at Buffalo’s LECOM Harbor Center.
