Salmon River Sports Review December 5-9, 2016

As Salmon River High School kicks off another winter sports season, each team intends to strive for success as well as look to improve their record from the previous year. The basketball court, as well as the ice arena, were busy this week as the boys and girls varsity hockey and basketball teams played home openers. Not having ice for a few weeks, due to complications in the SRCS arena, created a rough start for the boys and girls hockey teams. However, the issues have been resolved and both teams are back on home ice.

Boys Basketball

The Salmon River boys varsity basketball is young with only two returning seniors from last year's squad. The team took a big hit when Zach Smith, Jordan Bigness, Antoine Domino, Rasentonkwa Tarbell, Travis Thompson and Alan Jacobs Jr. graduated last year. "With an 8-9 record last season, we hope to improve well above .500 with a solid core moving up and the addition of some new faces," said Coach Shawn Martin who is entering his eighth year as varsity coach.

Massena-51, Salmon-38

On Monday, December 5, the visiting Massena Central team came out strong to quickly take a 5-0 lead but the Shamrocks rallied back to end the first quarter just four points behind, 9-5. In the second quarter Massena put together a 23-11 run to lead 32-16 by half time.

The Shamrocks kept working hard and pulled within eight points a few times during the fourth quarter but couldn't hold on and ended the game with a 51-38 loss.

"Foul shots. We have to work on our foul shooting," expressed Martin. "If we would have made more, we could have won." Martin was referring to the 28 free throws attempted, of which only 11 were made.

"Our defense did its job. They stuck to the game plan and carried out what I wanted. I thought our defensive play was stellar," added Martin.

Tyler Bacon led the Massena scoring with eight points followed by teammate James Donnelly with seven. Jacob Sheets fired through six shots while Drew McMahon added a three-pointer.

Ben Kelly earned a game high 17 points for Salmon along with a double-double by pulling down 18 rebounds. Myles Jacobs added nine while Montana Cook netted seven including two three pointers. Kurt Leroux struck for three, six rebounds and two steals and Konner Sunday finished with two points.

OFA-58, Salmon-46

The Salmon River Shamrocks started out strong and had built a 12-7 lead during the first quarter on Thursday, December 8. The Blue Devils rallied their way back to within two points early in the second before Kurt Leroux fired through four points and Myles Jacobs popped in a three pointer to put the Shamrocks back in the lead 28-21. OFA shook it off and regrouped to pull within two points again to end the second quarter 28-30.

OFA came out ready to work in the second half and held the Shamrocks to 16 points to clinch the 58-46 win.

Ben Kelly anchored the Shamrock offense with a double-double of 16 points and 13 rebounds followed by Montana Cook with 13 points including two triples. Leroux added six while Jacobs had five points. Jared Bigness netted four points and Konner Sunday chipped in two.

Girls varsity basketball

There is a new face on the Salmon River varsity girls basketball sideline. This is Elizabeth Durfee's first year as the varsity coach. She has coached at the JV level the past two years.

"We are a small group, but I think we will be very effective and efficient," commented Durfee. "I think we will see a nice balance between our guards and posts as we play the challenging Central Division. We have added some extra non-league games with Colton-Pierrepont, Norwood-Norfolk, and the St. Regis Falls tournament to round out our season. This group is hard working and eager to learn more and more about the game. I look forward to seeing what this team can do this season."

Veterans on the team are Jill Benedict, Lauren Martin, Dava Thompson, Tiffany Connors and Noreen Bautista. New comers are Wahsontiio, Bailey White and Nidia Dearmayero.

Massena-40 Salmon-33

On Tuesday, December 6, the Shamrocks came out ready to work hard and built up a 10-6 by the end of the first quarter. Massena regrouped to cut the deficit with a 15-5 run to end the first half with 21-15 lead.

It was the Shamrocks turn to rally in the third as they held Massena to just eight points and pulled within two to end the third period 27-29. Salmon tied up the score in the fourth quarter but couldn't hold on as Massena came back with an 11-6 surge to win 40-33.

Octavia Viskovich led Massena with a game high 13 points and pulled down eight balls. Sydnee Carroll netted 10 points followed by Lexi Jacobs with eight. Novaleigh LeGrow added five points and grabbed nine rebounds. Paige Perry finished with two points while Bailey Trumble and Alyssa Eubank had one point each.

Nidia De armayero had a double-double grabbing 12 rebounds and firing through 10 points. Jillian Benedict also tallied 10 points along with six rebounds. Dava Thompson added eight points while Tiffany Connors chipped in four and Wahsontiio put in one.

"I think this was a pretty good start o the season, minus it being a loss," commented Durfee. "If we could fix thing it would be our passing turnovers. The goal is to fine tune that in the next two days as we head to OFA on Friday."

OFA-50, Salmon-33

Lauren Martin paced the Lady Shamrocks with 16 points followed by Nidia De armayero and Dava Thompson with seven points each. Wahsontiio rounded out the scoring with four points.

Girls Hockey

The Salmon River girls varsity hockey team is a young team this year with nine new players including six eighth graders. "This is the first year in a few years that we have had a team this size. We have nineteen players and two managers," said third year coach, Olivia Cook. "The incoming new players have a lot of skill along with positive attitudes and passion for the game. We are going to build off of that to build as a team. Our goalie, Carli Cartier, is a ninth grader and I am looking to her to step up as a leader this year."

Beekmantown-2, Salmon River-1

On Wednesday December 7, the Salmon River girls varsity hockey team played host to the Beekmantown Eagles.

Salmon River was first on the scoreboard at the 11:51 mark in the second period when Geena Terrance finished off a play set up by Autumn Benedict. With five minutes left in the second Beekmantown's Abby Barse knotted up the score when she beat Carli Cartier with an unassisted goal. Three minutes later Conner LaMerre connected off a shot from Meagan Flynn which was the eventual game winner for the Eagles.

Taylor Laurin stopped four shots for the Beekmantown win while Carli Cartier turned aside 10 shots for the Shamrocks.

Salmon River 1, Alexandria Bay 0

Earlier in the week, in away action, Salmon River celebrated its first win after it faced off against the Alexandria Bay Islanders. Lexi Lazore scored an unassisted goal with 4:17 left in the third period after a high speed forecheck from Olivia Moulton and Madison Collette.

The game ended with a score of 1-0 for Salmon River. Carli Cartier stood tall between the pipes with 18 saves for the Shamrock win.

Boys Hockey

Salmon River-2, Norwood-Norfolk-1

There is nothing sweeter than to pull out a home opener win and that's exactly what the Salmon River boys hockey team did last Friday night against the Norwood-Norfolk Icemen with a score of 2-1.

All the scoring took place in the middle frame with the Shamrocks opening the scoring at the 8:42 mark when Kenan Herne finished off a play set up by Cameron Cartier and Dylan Wylie.

Less than a minute later the Icemen answered back with a power play goal by Brandon Palmer set up by Colby McCall. The Shamrocks retook the lead at the 11:07 mark when Dylan Cook found the back of the net with assists going to Rowisonkies Barnes and Kaden Conners. The goal eventually became the game winner for Salmon River.

John Jacobs posted 25 saves for the Shamrock win while Grant VanBuren turned aside 26 shots for Norwood-Norfolk.

"It was an exciting win to start the year at home," commented Salmon River Coach Tim Cook. "Our team's depth really stood out tonight."