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Red Storm drop two at home

Saranac Lake’s Ben Casagrain (11) and Dylan Amell tangle with two Guilderland opponents, including Evan Carey (12) following a faceoff during the third period of Saturday’s game at the Saranac Lake Civic Center. (Enterprise photo — Lou Reuter)

SARANAC LAKE — A two-game home stand for the Saranac Lake hockey team didn’t start off the way the Red Storm were hoping when they dropped a 5-2 decision to Fayetteville-Manlius on Friday night at the Civic Center.

Saturday’s result also didn’t go the way the hosts would have liked. Despite outshooting Guilderland 44-11, Saranac Lake suffered its second setback on home ice, falling 4-3 to the Storm in a non-league matchup.

The Red Storm got off to a great start by surging to a 2-0 lead in the opening period on a pair of goals by second captain Brett Dawson. But looking for its first win of the season, Guilderland responded with the next four tallies of the game, and the edge held up as the Storm improved to 1-4 while Saranac Lake saw its record sink to 2-2.

“I just think our guys were panicking,” Saranac Lake head coach Will Ellsworth said. “We were in desperation mode. We played a run-and-gun system against them, and being down by a goal or two, I think our guys were gripping their sticks a little too hard. They did a super job boxing it in their defensive end. They were blocking shots but we still had quality shots.

“When you outshoot a team like that, you expect to win,” Ellsworth added. “I think our guys played gritty in the third. They never really quit. It came down to defensive miscues. We’re young back on the blue line, and it shows back there. I think our guys will slowly pick it up. I have to give that team we played a lot of credit. They played tough, and they played a defensive style the last period. We missed some opportunities.”

Saranac Lake senior captain Brett Dawson controls the puck near the Guilderland net guarded by goalie Daneil Cooper and defenseman Garrett Murphy during Saturday’s game. Dawson scored twice in the Red Storm’s 4-2 loss. (Enterprise photo — Lou Reuter)

Dawson quickly lifted Saranac Lake to a 2-0 edge when he put the Red Storm on the board 5:27 into the contest and then notched his second less than three minutes later.

Evan Carey then pulled Guilderland to within 2-1 on a goal with 2:59 remaining in the first off assists from Nat Cieszynski and Collin Lagios.

Guilderland then took control in the second. Kyle Bennett deadlocked the score at 2-2 with an unassisted tally 2:44 into the period, and Zachary Eichlin and Lagios followed with back-to-back goals to lift their team to a 4-2 edge.

Dylan Amell found the back of the net with 31 seconds left in the period to close Saranac Lake’s gap to 4-3, but that score turned out to be the Red Storm’s final goal of the game, despite the fact they were able to hold a 16-0 advantage in shots on goal in the third.

After falling 2-1 in overtime the night before in Lake Placid, Guilderland’s players, as well as their head coach Jim Archibald, were thrilled to be heading home with a split after defeating Saranac Lake.

“We haven’t played to our potential yet. We’re getting there,” Archibald said. “That’s our first win. It’s exciting, we played with heart. Saranac is a great team, and we were able to get the puck deep. Our forecheck is what works for us. If we get the puck deep, we do all right. If we play around with it in the neutral zone, we’re screwed.

“This is a great win for us. Today they had success,” said Archibald, whose team is a combination of players from six high schools. “Three years ago when they asked me to help, they had nine skaters. They were going to fold the team. There wasn’t any energy, not enough participation, the numbers were way down. We brought in a great coaching staff, we brought the numbers way back up and now we’re competing.”

Senior goalie Daneil Cooper had his second strong outing in nets in as many nights and finished with 41 saves. Bruno Freeman started in nets for Saranac Lake and stopped six of the 10 shots he faced before being replaced in the second period by Jaden Gladd, who entered the game after Guilderland scored its fourth goal. Gladd finished with 1 save in the second period and did not face a single shot in the third.

Saranac Lake will face its first Champlain Valley Athletic Conference foe Tuesday on the road against Plattsburgh.

“Our kids were disappointed,” Ellsworth said. “After winning our tournament last week and then turning around and going 0-2, we’re going to have to bounce back. We have a league game Tuesday against Plattsburgh. They’re going to be a tough team — they’re 3-0 — and then we have the St. Lawrence tournament over the weekend, so we have our work cut out before the Christmas break.”

Guilderland 4, Saranac Lake 3

Storm 1 3 0 — 4

Red Storm 2 1 0 — 3

Scoring

First Period – 1. SL, Dawson, 5:27; 2. SL, Dawson (Kratts), 8:23; 3. G, Carey (Cieszynski, Lagios), 12:01.

Second Period – 4. G, Bennett, 2:44; 5. G, Eichlin (Bzdell, Gish), 4:53; 6. G, Lagios, 9:44; 7. SL, Amell, 14:29.

Shots on goal: Saranac Lake 44, Guilderland 11.

Saves: G, Cooper 41; SL, Freeman 6, Gladd 1.

Fayetteville-Manlius 10, Lake Placid 2

LAKE PLACID — After earning its first win of the season on Friday, the Lake Placid hockey team faced a tough dose of reality on Saturday, falling 10-2 to Fayetteville-Manlius Saturday at the Olympic Center.

The youthful Blue Bombers eked out a 2-1 overtime against Guilderland on Friday in their first of two games in as many days, but faced a much different scenario Saturday after falling into a 4-1 hole in the opening period and then letting in another five unanswered goals in the second.

Lake Placid actually got the game’s first goal when Hunter Wilmot scored just 49 seconds into the opening period, but once the Hornets got going, their was no slowing down the visitors. Facing an early 1-0 deficit, Fayetteville-Manlius scored the next nine goals of the game before Tyler Hinkley netted Lake Placid’s second, which came at the 9:54 mark of the third period and moved the score to 9-2. The Hornets then added the final tally of the afternoon midway through the third period.

Fayetteville-Manlius held an overwhelming 40-17 edges in shots on goal. Freshman Anders Stanton finished with 30 saves between the pipes for the Blue Bombers. Hinkley, a sophomore, assisted on the game’s first goal to end the afternoon with a two-point performance.

Hayden Plank, Hunter Spotts and Lars Kroes added an assist each for the Blue Bombers.

The Hornets went 2-0 on their trip to the North Country, which also included a 5-2 victory over Saranac Lake Friday evening.

Lake Placid, which dropped to 1-3, next plays on Dec. 19 at home against Middlebury with the opening faceoff slated for 6 p.m.

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