N/N-SALMON RIVER 6-1 Section 10 Division II hockety title 2019

Sophomore Bobby Voss picked up a hat trick to send top-seeded Norwood-Norfolk to a 6-1 win over No. 2 Salmon River in the Section 10 Division II boys hockey championship game Monday night at Clarkson University’s Cheel Arena. The Icemen improved to 15-6-1 overall with the win and will now get set to host a NYSPHSAA quarterfinal round game this Saturday at the Dominic Zappia Arena against the Section 5 champion. N-N is making its first appearance in the state tournament since winning the sectional crown in 2014. Salmon River (13-9) outshot the Icemen 35-26, but most of the Shamrocks shots were from long distance. Voss sparked the Icemen when he scored his 21st goal of the season just 5:03 into the game on just the second shot for Norwood-Norfolk. Bodie Molnar set the goal up with a pass from behind the net. “It really got us going,” Voss said. “We knew that we had to score first. They are a strong team so we knew they were going to take it too us. We had to come out hard.” N-N had a chance to take a 2-0 lead with 2:39 left in the opening period when Gavin Phillips had a mini-breakaway opportunity, but his shot went just over the net. About 25 seconds later Salmon River had a similar scoring chance but Cameron Cartier’s backhanded shot was blocked by Icemen sophomore goalie Thomas Cafarella. Salmon River was called for having too many men on the ice 1:42 into the second period and the Icemen capitalized with a power-play goal from Cody Fobare with Voss assisting. It was the third goal of the year for Fobare. Voss picked up his second goal of the year scoring near the crease on a pass from Molnar to give Norwood-Norfolk a 3-0 lead at 3:38 of the second period. Salmon River coach Tim Cook replaced goalie John Jacobs for Preston Hemlock after the goal. Jacobs had shut out the Flyers earlier this year in a 2-0 win on Jan. 5. “I just think we came to play,” N-N coach Doug Lavigne said. “When we come to play, we can play with anybody, even in the state (playoffs). We were harping that we had to strike early, our speed is our friend. We needed to get the puck in deep and let our speed take over.” John McCall then deked past three Salmon River defenders at 12:57 of the second period to give the Icemen a 4-0 lead. N-N’s Brody VanBuren was called for crosschecking at 14:49 and Salmon River responded with a power-play goal from Cameron Cartier at 14:58 to cut the lead to 4-1. Alex Oakes and Tim Cook assisted on Cartier’s 19th goal of the season. There was a scary moment late in the second period when Salmon River’s Cobie Cree collided with an N-N player and fell awkwardly, hitting his head on the side of the ice, causing a small pool of blood to form. After a lengthly delay, Cree was helped to his feet and skated off the ice with assistance. Reed Gravlin scored 34 seconds into the third period to extend Norwood-Norfolk’s lead to 5-1 with Molnar assisting. Voss added his third goal at 6:09 with another assist from Molnar to close out the scoring. “They were just the better team tonight,” noted coach Cook. Cafarella made 19 of his 34 saves in the first period to set the tone for the win while Jacobs turned aside four shots and Hemlock posted another 15 stops for Salmon River.