SLP had fallen to the Spartans by one point on the road last week in a high-scoring outing, but returned to the Saranac Lake Civic Center Thursday with a new-look defense and their fire-powered offense, as the McCormick brothers had a helping hand in six of SLP’s goals.

Eli McCormick, an eighth-grader, netted a hat-trick for SLP, while his older brother Ayden, a junior, added one goal and had a season-high five assists to improve the team’s overall record to 8-10-1 overall, and 4-4 in league play.

SLP also got a pair of goals from senior captain Braydon Harvey and another score from sophomore Oren Preston en route to the victory. Fellow senior captain Ethan Knight chipped in with an assist, as did senior Gerald Woodruff and junior Braeden Foley. Scottie Nicholas, a senior, stopped 25 shots in net.

SLP head coach Josh Spanburgh was proud of how his team played, especially on senior recognition night.

SLP’s goalie, Scottie Nicholas, watches the puck during Thursday’s regular-season finale at the Saranac Lake Civic Center. (Enterprise photo — Parker O’Brien)

“They worked their hardest and did really well for three periods, and that can be the outcome if we can do that all the time,” he said.

After a first period in which SLP only led 1-0 on Preston’s goal, the team finally broke through in the next two periods, scoring six more. SLP finished with a 32-27 advantage in shots.

Thursday’s outing was a far cry from its result a week ago, when SLP lost to the Spartans 7-6 on the road. This time around, the team used a strong defensive outing to shut down Saranac Central. Spanburgh said all week-long the team worked on a little bit of a different forecheck, and it worked in their favor.

“We weren’t rushing three, but more like two and having one forward back helping on the near the blue line,” he said. “I think we bottled them up quite a bit, and I think we had several goals that came off of that fact. So I’m really happy with how that worked out.”

Harvey extended SLP’s slim lead with a short-handed goal less than a minute into the second period, before Ayden McCormick pushed the score to 3-0 with his league-leading 30th goal of the season.

SLP’s Ryan Bartholomew races toward the puck during Thursday’s regular-season finale at the Saranac Lake Civic Center. (Enterprise photo — Parker O’Brien)

Robbie Squier broke through for Saranac Central’s first goal with 10 seconds left in the middle period on assists from Elliott Barry and Gabe Moore.

But early into the third period, SLP’s Eli McCormick made it 4-1, with a wrist shot past the Spartan’s goalie, Carson Holland, before Saranac Central’s Ryan Campbell brought the score within two, after scoring around the midway point of the period. Brody Macomber and Deacon Giroux added assists.

The younger McCormick then netted back-to-back — both coming on assists from his brother Ayden — to push the advantage to 6-2. Eli’s final goal of the contest, which was his 11th goal of the season, was scored on an empty-netter after his brother, Ayden, opted to give his brother the hat-trick rather than scoring himself.

“He went in on the open net, he surveyed it and saw Eli was with him — I think he also wanted to get him a hat-trick,” Spanburgh said. “I like seeing someone in a leadership role recognizing that situation. He did a great job and played very well, as did Eli, with some amazing shots for his goals.”

Harvey closed out SLP’s evening with a power play goal after sniping a shot over the Spartans’ net-minder’s blocker. Harvey now has 19 goals this season, which ranks third in the league.

SLP’s Braydon Harvey skates with the puck during Thursday’s regular-season finale at the Saranac Lake Civic Center. (Enterprise photo — Parker O’Brien)

Harvey was one of six seniors — alongside Nicholas, Knight, Woodruff, Ryan Bartholomew and David Montroy — honored on Thursday for their play over the years. Spanburgh, who started coaching SLP in 2021, said these players have had him as a varsity coach since they joined the program. He added that they all contribute to the team both on and off the ice.

“Guys like Gerald Woodruff, who might not have a (captain) letter on his chest, but he’s a leader of this team too, and he worked really hard,” Spanburgh said. “And Ryan Bartholomew does the same thing. He went out there and he busted his tail. He works really hard, and then, of course, you have those three captains (Harvey, Nicholas and Knight) and David Montroy.

“David’s in their locker room all the time. He’s our hypeman. He’s the guy saying, ‘Guys, let’s go, let’s go.’ He’s doing it in the locker room, he does it on the bench,” he added. “He’s the kind of guy that has that attitude that says, ‘Hey, we gotta go, we gotta work hard.’ David then goes by example and works really hard. I’m really proud of all of those guys and they will be missed.”

The SLP boys will now shift their focus to the Section VII playoff, and after splitting with the Spartans, the SLP boys look primed to place third in the final Champlain Valley Athletic Conference standings.

“But (the Spartans) still have another game that they can win and maybe change that,” Spanburgh said. “So we’ll wait and see.”

Saranac Central, which fell to 7-12 (3-4 in league) overall, will take on the regular season league champions, Beekmantown Eagles, in their final regular season contest today. The result of that game will determine the seedings for the playoff.

The No. 3 seed will take on the Plattsburgh Hornets in the Section VII semifinal game, while the No. 4 seed will host No. 5 Northeastern Clinton in the quarterfinal game, with the winner facing top-seeded Beekmantown in the semifinals.