By Warren Kozireski —
Skaneateles broke a 1-1 with four unanswered goals over the final two periods to defeat Queensbury/Lake George 5-1 to win the New York State Division II hockey title for the second consecutive season, becoming the 13th team in history to do so at any level.
The Lakers took a 1-0 first period lead as sophomore defenseman Noah Testa scored from the left point with assists from Casey Morrissey and Andrew Falkenberg at 10:48.
Queensbury earned a late first period power play and converted to tie the game 1-1 just 23 seconds into the second as junior defenseman Brodie LaNoir scored stick side.
The Lakers then began to control play and netted the go-ahead goal seconds after a penalty kill as senior Andrew Gaglione scored low glove side after a rush down the left win at 4:36 with an assist from classmate Jack Torrey.
“It was a bad penalty on our end, so we definitely had to flip the emotions around,” Gaglione said.
Junior Cole Palmer made it 3-1 at 9:46 using speed to beat the defenseman wide and tuck the puck inside the post and Gaglione scored his second of the game as he backhanded in a loose puck in the slot at 12:54 of the second.
Skaneateles made it 5-1 at 8:39 of the third as freshman Braedan Taggert feathered a perfect pass through the defenseman’s legs to sophomore Trevor Jensen on the rush for the goal.
“It feels amazing making history for Skaneateles; it just feels awesome,” Gaglione said. “We’ve been working hard at it all year and I think we definitely deserve it. We knew we could be anyone that we play if we just play our game and it really showed.”
“In 1989-90 we lost in the state championship in 90 after we won in overtime (in 1988-89) and in 2016 we lost in overtime after we won in 2015, so this was on our agenda and we finally got it,” Skaneateles head coach Mitch Major said.
“It’s been the same all year; our depth is very difficult to keep up with and we told the boys that as long as it was close after the first period, we were going to be fine and that was the case. The number one thing we have this year is depth—we had seven goals yesterday (semi-finals) with seven goal scorers, so that is the theme of the whole year.”
The Lakers defeated Webster Thomas 5-1 and Batavia Notre Dame United 7-2 in the first two rounds to reach the championship game.
Named to the All-Tournament Team were Queensbury/Lake Goerge senior Tanner Fearman and junior Jake Dickerson and Skaneateles’ Falkenberg, Torrey Paro, goaltender Danny Angelina and Most Valuable Player Gaglione.
This marks the sixth state hockey title for the program having also won in 1983, 1989, 2015, 2019 and 2023.
(Photos by Koz/NY Hockey OnLine)
