Stars (A) Season Comes to an End
The Stars (A) season came to a quick end as they lost their opening round of the playoffs to the Bridgewater Bandits. In the opening game of the series the Stars and Bandits ended up in a 5-5 overtime tie. Syracuse got on the board first with a goal from Joe Wilson. The Bandits tied the game about a minute later on a power play goal from Chris Rooney. Chris Cannizzaro’s goal with just 39 seconds left in the period gave the Stars a 2-1 lead going into the first intermission. Bridgewater tied the game 2-2 on Matt Gates goal with 8:24 left in the second. The Stars regained the lead as they scored three goals from Josh LaRose, Matt Wilson and a power play goal from Cannizzaro in the last five minutes to give them what looked like a commanding 5-2 lead after two. They continued to hold on to their 5-2 lead but with 3:05 remaining in the game the momentum of the game changed. John Heffernan scored for the Bandits to cut the lead to 5-3. Bridgewater then pulled their goalie and the move paid off as Brandon Nunn scored a power play goal with 2:07 remaining to cut the deficit to 5-4. Chris Rooney then was called for a major check from behind penalty which appeared to be costly for the Bandits. The Bandits again pulled their goalie and with just 47 seconds remaining in the game Nunn scored a shorthanded goal to tie the game at 5-5. No one scored in overtime and the game ended in a tie setting up a winner take all for Sunday’s game.
Sunday’ game saw them battle evenly as they did during the season. The two teams had a 1-1-1 record during the regular season and after battling to a tie on Saturday this game turned out to be no different. Each team scored a pair of goals in the first. Scoring the Stars goals were Josh LaRose and Rob Morton. The second period was the same as each team scored a goal. Ryan Farnan scored the Stars goal. This first round playoff series came down to the last 20 minutes. Bridgewater then snapped the tie with 7:28 remaining on a goal from John Sperzel. Dylan Barbieri’ goal then gave the Bandits a 5-3 lead with 2:32 remaining in the game. Matt Gates empty net goal with 4 seconds remaining gave the Bandits the 6-3 win and closed out the Stars 2008-09 season.
Stars (B) Clinch Third Place; Playoffs Next
The Stars (B) team traveled to the Albany, NY area to close out their Empire League regular season needing only one point in their last three games to clinch third place in the league’s Western Division. Friday’s first game against Jersey the Stars fell behind 4-0 before Zach O’Mara tallied for the Stars as they lost to the Wildcats 4-1. In the Friday nightcap against the New England Huskies the Stars jumped out to the early lead on Derrick Eccles’ goal. The Huskies then scored three straight goals to give them a 3-1 victory over the Stars. Heading into Saturday’s final regular season game against the Valley Jr. Warriors the Stars still needed just one point to clinch third place. The Stars jumped out to the lead within the first four minutes of the game on a goal from Bill Kent. With just under four minutes remaining in the first half the Warriors tied the game on John Maida’s goal. Neither team scored in the second half nor during the overtime period and the game ended in a 1-1 tie. With the tie the Stars clinched third place and will advance to the first round of the Empire League playoff as they take on the TNew York Applecore.
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