On the heels of a Buccaneers win on Wednesday, the undefeated Skaneateles Lakers sailed into town and extended their season-long winning streak to nine games with a 7-1 win.
For some context, in the eight straight wins for Skaneateles this season, the team scored 61 goals while letting in just for goals.
On a much larger scale, the last game the Lakers lost was on December 14, 2018 to Cortland-Homer and have been 47-0-2 in that span.
Off the opening drop, the Buccaneers controlled the pace for the first minute of the game. Senior Adam Michalski had the first goal-scoring opportunity, but Skaneateles goaltender Adam Casper made a pad save to deny the captain.
Buccaneers head coach Kevin Ahern was happy with the way his boys skated out of the dressing room in that first period.
“I think we caught [Skaneateles] a little bit offguard,” Ahern said. “They thought that they were going to show up, and we were not going to compete. The kids worked very hard, and we did have some good shifts. I was proud of them.”
With just over 11 minutes to play in the first, Henry Major had a wide-open look that went over the crossbar, as Oswego netminder, Brandon Demling, was caught napping on the far post. Even though Skaneateles failed to score on that early chance, it would not be its last goal-scoring opportunity of the period.
With 7:15 to go in the period, senior Drew Jensen ripped a shot from the blue line that was redirected in front of the net by junior Luke Renaud for the first goal of the game.
Later on in the period, junior Jack Weeks went to the penalty box to give the Bucs the first man-advantage of the game. While that power play was unsuccessful, Michalski was sent to the box just 40 seconds later. Oswego was able to kill off the full penalty.
Demling kept the Bucs in the game throughout the first period and early stages of the second, making 11 stops in the first alone. With 31 saves on 38 shots, Ahern praised Demling’s efforts on Thursday night despite a lopsided final score.
“[Demling] played like the kid like I know he can play,” Ahern said. “He made some outstanding saves.”
At the end of the first, Oswego had only given up one goal and landed seven shots on goal.
The Lakers woke up in the second, scoring three times in seven minutes to extend their lead to four and taking total control of the contest with goals from junior Garret Krieger, Jensen and senior Drew Henderson, two of which came on the power play.
On Wednesday night, Ahern was pleased with the way his team stayed out of the penalty box against Auburn and mentioned that if they were going to have a chance against Skaneateles, they could not take more than four or five penalties. That was not the case for the Bucs, as they went to the box five times in the second period and seven times in the entire game.
“I think they called it pretty tight tonight,” Ahern said. “I am not sure that all of them warranted us in the box, but it is what it is. I was very proud of our discipline.”
Oswego only put three shots on goal in the second period and just four in the third, giving them 14 shots in total.
In the third period, it took just 32 seconds for Skaneateles to hit the twine, as Renaud scored his second of the game, extending the lead to five. Oswego would get one back when junior Colin Cianfarano scored the lone goal for the Bucs, his fifth of the season.
Ahern was pleased with the way they fought until the final whistle.
“Our kids showed a ton of character,” Ahern said. “Every last kid competed to the very last minute. It would be easy to just pack it in and go through the motions but every last kid played super hard.”
Two more goals went in for the Lakers in the final nine minutes of the contest to make it a 7-1 game. Krieger scored his second of the game and junior Colin Morrissey etched his name on the stat sheet, putting home the final goal of the game with 5:17 remaining.
Oswego falls to 3-6 with the loss. Ahern was proud of his boys for the job they did tonight and is looking ahead to the future with excitement.
“I do not think there is a lot [to change],” Ahern said. “They had an 18U game on Sunday, so that was their seventh game in seven days so they are tired. They are a tired group. We are going to have a light practice tomorrow, the weekend off and get after it next week. But I think that we are looking forward to the [second half] of the season because I think we can be in every one of those games, if not able to win any game from here on out.”
The Buccaneers will play four road games next week, the first of which will be on Tuesday, March 2, in Ontario Bay at 7:00 pm.
Michael Gross | The Oswegonian
