Salmon River Shamrocks Win 20th Division II Boys Hockey Championship

By Andy Gardner.

The Salmon River Shamrocks won their 20th Section 10 Division II title by beating the Ogdensburg Free Academy Blue Devils at Cheel Arena on Monday night, Feb. 27. The Massena Raiders lost the Division I championship to Potsdam.

After 2:30 of play in the first period, Salmon's Carter Johnson set up Evan Collette to make it 1-0 Shamrocks. Five minutes later, Collette passes to Johnson, who pushes SR out to a 2-0 lead. Before the intermission buzzer, Oscar Cook successfully fired off a shot on the OFA net to make it 3-0 Salmon River.

OFA's Teagan Frederick passed Dylan Irvine in the second period to put the Blue Devils on the scoreboard. Forty-one seconds later, Connor Dishaw brought the 'Rocks back to a three-goal lead, 4-1. For the next goal, the Shamrocks' Kade Cook passes to Johnson to produce a four-goal advantage. The final goal came off the stick of Dishaw, for a 6-1 final score.

In the Massena-Potsdam game, the Sandstoners' John Duffy scored the first goal of the game three minutes into the opening stanza, from Cooper Grant. Five minutes later, Massena's Jake Smutz ties the game 1-1.

After another Massena goal, Potsdam's Tyler Berkman brings the game back to a tie, 2-2. His teammates James Sullivan and Payton Puente score amid another Raiders marker to make the score 5-3. Massena's Chris Marasco scored the fourth Massena goal. After that, Duffy capitalized again for Potsdam to take a 6-4 advantage. Berkman made it 7-4 not long after. Brady Frost scored Massena's final goal, followed by a second insurance marker off the stick of Berkman and into an empty Massena net.

Leading up to their showdown with OFA, the Shamrocks had defeated the Norwood-Norfolk Icemen to get the Division II title game slot. The game was played Feb. 24 at Tom Cavanaugh Arena in Akwesasne.

Rylan Adams posted the first goal of the game with 2:43 left in the first period. Less than two minutes later, Chase Lewis doubled their lead to make the scoreboard read 2-0 Salmon going into the middle frame.

Dylan Johnson scored midway through the stanza, assisted by Caiden Cartier and Luke Miller. Connor Dishaw scored a fourth Shamrocks marker with 2:32 left in the second period.

Early on in the third period, Kade Cook scored a fifth goal for Salmon River. Dishaw scored again not long after, on a play set up by Cook and Evan Collette. Dylan Johnson made the score 7-0 Salmon on a power play. Miller finished the game with four assists.

In nets, Salmon River's Rick Chatland turned aside 10 shots. The Iceman's Caleb Averill had a big night with 56 saves.

The Massena Raiders had one team advance and one team's season end against Malone on the basketball court on Feb. 20.

The Raider boys downed the Huskies in a close 44-41 for the Class A title. The Raider girls lost to the Huskies 48-42.

Both games were played at Maxcy Hall on the SUNY Potsdam campus.

In the girls game, Malone went on an early 7-0 run, but the Red Raiders rallied and tied the game at 7-7. Malone worked its way to a slim 10-9 lead after the opening quarter, then grew their advantage to 26-19 at halftime.

Malone opened up the second half with a 5-0 run. Massena's Chyler Richards scored the final five points of the quarter bring Massena to within five points, 33-28, entering the last eight minutes of regulation.

Massena got to within a point of a tie, 34-33, early in the but Malone went on a 9-0 run to raise their lead to 10 points, 43-33. Massena tried to come back and rally, but each time the Huskies maintained their advantage, bolstered by free throws.

Richards led the Massena effort with a game-high 19 points, including three of her team's 3-pointers. Sophia Greco tailled 11 points.

Chloe LaBelle paced the Huskies with 16 points. Alyvia Roberts tallied 11 points. Raegan McArdle scored nine points, including one 3-pointer.

In the boys bout, Massena denied Malone a fifth straight Class A championship and kept the Huskies' shooting game in check.

Massena got out to an early one-point lead, 7-6, after the first quarter. Malone came in the second quarter and led 18-16 at halftime. The Huskies had trouble in the third quarter, as the Raiders doubled Malone's output and led 34-27 going the last eight minutes of the game.

Malone was only able cut their disadvantage by four points and their season came to a close.

Three Raiders reached double figures.

Taylor Mitchell led the Massena offense with 13 points. DeShawn Walton and Colin Patterson netted a dozen points apiece.

Jace Hammond scored 20 points for Malone, while no other teammates got into double figures.