CATCHING UP WITH THE STARS

The last few weeks have seen both Stars A & B teams play a string of home games at the Onondaga Nation Arena. The New York AppleCore A & B teams both defeated the Stars A & B teams in doubleheader action on October 24. In the first game the AppleCore (B) team scored early in the first period on a goal from Mike Mascaro to take a 1-0 lead. The Stars (B) team then tied the game on a goal from Bill Kent with just over 5 minutes remaining in the first period. AppleCore regained the lead on a power play goal from Mike Cambria with just over 3 minutes remaining before the first intermission. AppleCore added to their lead with a goal in the second and two goals in the third to defeat the Stars (B), 5-1. In the second game of the doubleheader the AppleCore (A) team defeated the Stars (A) team 7-4. AppleCore jumped out to an early 2-0 lead with goals from Oliver Koo and Louie Balzano. Scoring the other goals for AppleCore were two goals from Matt Kavanagh, and single goals from Dom Trento, Kevin Gaughran, and Kevin Kavanagh. The bright spot for the Stars was Justin Bruckel's hat trick. The other Stars goal was a power play goal from Ryan Farnan.

The next day the Applecore (B) team extended their winning streak to 11 games as they defeat the Stars (B) team 6-1. Applecore scored early in the first period on a goal by Frank Musick. They put the game out of reach as they scored 4 goals in the second to build a 5-1 lead after two. The Stars lone goal was from Valentin Milyukov.  In the second game on Sunday Josh Larose's two goals lead the Syracuse Stars (A) team to a 4-3 victory over the New York Applecore. Ryan Farnan got the Stars on the board first with a late first period goal. Applecore tied the game midway in the second on a goal from Corey Lillie. The Stars then built a two goal lead on goals from Adam Graff and the first goal from Larose to go up 3-1 after two. Applecore then made it a game as they scored two goals in the first four minutes of the third to tie the game at 3-3. Larose then scored the game winner, his second goal of the game, with 6:35 left in the game for the Stars 4-3 win.

In a rare Wednesday night game played on October 28th, the Stars B team was led by Bill Kent who scored his second goal of the game with 1:19 left in overtime to lift the Stars B team over Maksymum (Rochester), 4-3, and snap a three game losing streak. Maksymum scored just over two minutes into the game on a goal from JT Stenglein. The Stars rallied late in the period on Kent's first goal. Maksymum then took the lead again early in the second on Nathan Pelligra's goal. Syracuse then tied the game midway in the period on a shorthanded goal from Luke Alletzhauser. Maksymum again took the lead on a goal from Riley Bourbonnais midway in the third. Stars goaltender Jordon Demo kept the Stars in the game coming up with some big saves in the period. The Stars then tied the game with just less than five minutes remaining on a power play goal from Connor Bertrand to force the game into overtime.

Closing out the month of October saw the Stars teams with another doubleheader at the Nation Arena. In the first game of the day the Stars (B) team defeated the Pittsburgh Jr. Penguins 4-1. The Stars got on the board first with a goal from Nikita Mokin. Seventeen seconds later the Stars took a commanding 2-0 lead on a goal from Bill Kent, his first of the game. Scoring the other Stars goals was Zach O'Mara in the second period and Kent scored again in the third. Stars goaltender Kollyn Jones played well in nets but was denied his shutout bid with just 6:00 remaining in the game on a goal from Ben Hanus.

In the nightcap the Syracuse Stars (A) and the Capital District Selects battled to a classic 1-1 overtime tie. Adam Graff scored the Stars goal at 1:33 of the game. Capital District scored late in the second period on a goal from Nick Zappia. Goaltending for both teams, Anthony Cadieux (Stars) and Brian Robbins (CD) came up with many big saves in the third period and the overtime session to preserve the tie. Cadieux made 34 saves and Robbins, making his first appearance of the year, had 51 saves.
 
In Sunday’s game the Syracuse Stars B team and the Pittsburgh Jr. Penguins battled to a 3-3 overtime tie on. Jarrett Ruchka scored midway in the first period to give the Jr. Pens an early 1-0 lead. Bill Kent notched a goal about four minutes later to knot the game at 1-1. Late in the first period the Stars capitalized on a costly turnover by the Pens deep in their own zone as Zach O'Mara scored an unassisted goal. The Penguins then scored the only goals in the second period by Nico Vecchio and Julian Rizza to give them a 3-2 lead after two. Penguin goaltender Matt Schmidlin make some big saves in the third and it appeared that the Pens would come out with a win and a split of the two game weekend series but O'Mara then scored again with just fifty-nine seconds remaining to force the game into overtime.

The Stars A team and Capital District saw the action for Sunday’s game shift to the RPI Arena in Troy, NY. This game appeared to be another classic with strong goaltending by Capital District’s Brian Robbins and the Star’s Blake Dougherty. Each team was held scoreless for two periods. The Stars finally were able to beat Robbins as they scored three third period goals to come away with a 3-0 victory. Scoring for the Stars were John Knisley, Ryan Farnan, and an empty net goal by Adam Graff.