Salmon River hosts annual Christmas Tournament, Cook Jr. named co-MVP

By Andy Gardner

Salmon River came in second place at their annual Christmas tournament at Tom Cavanaugh Arena in Fort Covington, and one of their skaters was named co-MVP.

The Shamrocks hosted the Ogdensburg Blue Devils, New Hartford Spartans and Queensbury Spartans for a weekend of hockey Dec. 13-14.

Salmon River's Tim Cook Jr. was named co-MVP, along with OFA's Kelson Hooper. OFA won first place with seven points (1-0-1). Salmon River was second with six points (1-1). New Hartford and Queensbury each tallied 3.5 points.

The All-Tournament Team included Salmon River's Alex Oakes, OFA's Hooper and Stephen Morley, New Hartford's Derek Joy and Jack Darby and Queensbury's Trevor Vogel.

"We look forward to hosting this tournament every year. Queensbury was a state finalist last year and is always a tough program to contend with. I've never seen anyone (Tim Cook Jr.) score that much in the two games of the tournament. Big first varsity win for Crayton Cree to boot. We look forward to starting our league season this week," Salmon River Coach Tim Cook Sr. said following the game.

Salmon River beat Queensbury 6-4 on Saturday, Dec. 14. Cook Jr. put Salmon River out to an early 2-0 with two of his four goals scored in the first eight minutes of play. Oakes assisted both. Kade Cook also picked up a helper on the opening goal. With 46 seconds left in the first period, Brayden Ordway put the Spartans on the board after taking a pass from Brendan Duffy and Vogel.

In the first minute of the middle stanza, Jared Showen pushed the 'Rocks back out to a two-goal lead on a play set up by Oakes. Minutes later, Queensbury rattled off two goals less than 20 seconds apart. The first came off the stick of Josh Demattos assisted by Jimmy Fitzgerald and Jack Randall. The second, unassisted, came from Will Vogel. On a power play with 3:27 remaining in the period, Will Vogel converted a pass from Demattos and McCabe Denno to give the Spartans a 4-3 lead. With less than a minute to go in the frame, Cook Jr. scored his third goal of the game with a helper from Gavin Cook-Avery. While holding their opponents scoreless in the closing stanza, the Shamrocks fashioned the game-winner plus an insurance goal. Cook Jr. capitalized on an unassisted play just over six minutes in. And with less than a minute left in regulation, Oakes scored on another unassisted play.

Salmon River goalie Crayton Cree made 23 saves. Queensbury netminder Chase Korrol turned aside 14 shots.

The previous evening, Salmon River lost to New Hartford 5-2.

"We got off to a great start in the first and had a 1-0 lead. Then the second saw us make a number of mental errors. We are a team with inexperience in a number of areas. In the third, we played great. We are hoping to piece things together tomorrow," said Coach Cook.

Cook Jr. generated both of the Shamrock goals. He scored the first just over a minute into the game after getting the puck from Khyler Johnson. His second goal was in the third period, assisted by Oakes. Queensbury fired in five goals during the middle stanza while Salmon River's offense was silenced. Aidan Joy scored twice. Logan Kraft, Mike Hansen and William Gall (one assist) scored solo goals. Jack Darby had three assists and Caden Kramer tallied a pair. Solo helpers came from Tristan Wentworth, Kristian Smith and Robert French.

Three Salmon River goalies spent time in the net. Ryan Oakes started and made 11 saves. Tehanerantaiens Barnes took over in the second and turned aside two shots. Crayton Cree finished the game in the third and stopped seven scoring chances. Derek Joy made 27 saves for Queensbury.

In other tournament action, Ogdensburg and Queensbury played to a 2-2 overtime tie.

Massena's varsity boys squadron fared well in a tournament in western New York. They won two shutout games against Niagara-Wheatfield and Mamaroneck.

In the Sunday, Dec. 15 game against Mamaroneck, the Raiders won 6-0. The only goal Massena would need came from Aiden Rufa just over a minute into the middle stanza on a play set up by Nick Linstad. Mikey Kuhn went on to score three goals. Linstad and Preston O'Neil connected for the other two. Connor Terry tallied three assists. Nick Morrell helped set up two plays. Solo helpers came from Kuhn, Linstad, Caleb D'Arienzo and Chris Marasco. Dakota Allen covered the Massena net and made 26 saves.

The previous day, the Raiders defeated Niagara-Wheatfield 3-0. What would hold up as the game-winner was off the stick of Morrell early in the first period, with a helper from Kuhn. Zach Barney, assisted by Linstad, fired in an insurance goal just over a minute later. Kuhn scored the last goal of the game with just over a minute remaining in regulation. He was assisted by Ryan Letham. Netminder Ben Rogers turned aside 12 shots for Massena.

The Salmon River girls squadron maintained their unbeaten 2019 record with wins over Beekmantown and Alexandria Bay.

They downed Beekmantown 6-1 on Tuesday, Dec. 10. Karli St. Ann and Myranda Collette each scored twice. Makhia Snyder and Jaryn Chubb picked up the other two goals.

And on Friday, Dec. 13 the Shamrocks beat A-Bay 5-1. Rylee Garrow had two goals and an assist. Karahkwenhawe White scored what would hold up as the game-winning goal in the opening period. Hannah Johnson and Makhia Snyder also scored. Karli St. Ann helped set up three plays. Snyder, Jaryn Chubb and Talynn Wylie picked up solo assists. Goaltender Carli Cartier picked up eight saves.

On the same day, the Massena girls lost to Beekmantown 4-3.