Salmon River falls to Skaneateles to close out season in state semifinals

BUFFALO – The Skaneateles Lakers overcame a hugely successful Salmon River Shamrocks boys hockey team in the state championship game. The 2022-23 Shamrocks season ends with a first-ever record – having gone undefeated against all Northern Athletic Conference opponents – finishing up 21-3 overall.

The teams went head-to-head Saturday, March 11 at the Harbor Center in Buffalo.

“They’re good, we’re good. Both teams forechecked well. Both teams played hard. Both goalies played well. It’s real hard to get to this game and a lot of things fell into place for us on the way here this year. It just happen for us today,” Salmon River Coach Tim Cook told NNY360.com.

“We had our chances and did what we could,” he said.

The Lakers opened the scoreboard and then went down to a 2-1 disadvantage, rallied, and punched in the eventual game-winner on the only power play opportunity of the tilt. Lakers goalie Chad Lowe made 28 saves in helping to preserve the win.

“This game went the way our games have gone all year,” Lakers coach Mitch Major told NNY360. “We rely on Chad (Lowe) to make the saves and we convert on our chances.”

“Salmon River is a hell of a team and we passed a big test today,” he said.

The Lakers put the first goal on the board when Henry Major got control loose puck along the right boards at Salmon River blueline. He dodged the SRC defense and flung a shot past ’Rocks netminder Rick Chatland for an unassisted goal 8:52 into regulation.

Chatland went on to stand tall in the net with 22 saves.

Twelve seconds later, Salmon’s Dylan Johnson capitalized and tie the match after getting the puck from Kade Cook and Chase Lewis.

After 6:59 into the middle stanza, Shamrock Evan Collette fired from the left wing, was denied, and snapped the puck back at the Lakers net to take Salmon River’s only lead of the game.

Less than two minutes later, Skaneateles’s Major got ahold of the puck and passed it to Alex Whitlock who tied the game 2-all at 8:40 in the second period.

In the final frame, Salmon River was docked the only penalty of the bout with 3:03 left on the timer.

After Collette was denied a scoring opportunity, Andrew Gaglione got control of the puck after and unsuccessful shot from Major and brought the game to what would hold up as a 3-2 final score.

“We have 12 seniors and as a group, they’ve had a lot of success in their high school careers,” Cook told NNY360. “It’s been a while since we gotten this far in hockey.”

“It’s real hard to say goodbye. They’ve just been such a good group to coach,” he said.