SKANEATELES, NY–This past weekend, the John Jay Ice Hockey team loaded up the coach bus and headed five hours north to Skaneateles. The team usually makes this journey about half way through the season, to see where it stands among the best teams in New York State.

On Friday night, after missing a full day of school, the Indians battled the second ranked team in the state, the Skaneateles Lakers. Similar to the game played between these two teams last year, the ice was extremely balanced throughout the first period. The Lakers scored a quick goal about five minutes into the period, but John Jay was able to respond with a goal as well.

Unfortunately this season, the Indians have had a lot of trouble locking down on defense at the end of periods. Following this trend, Skaneateles was able to score their second goal with about two minutes remaining in the first period.

Reflecting back on the intermission between the first and second periods, Indians goaltender George McMichael stated, “It was the most important moment in our season so far. It was a turning point where we decided on what kind of team we really wanted to be, and came out in the second period with a different mindset.”

John Jay came out hard in the second period and played some of their best hockey of the whole season against the best team they faced all season. The game was tied at two after the end of an extremely well executed period by the Indians. This same level of play continued on into the third period, which led both teams to overtime.

After three extremely long minutes in overtime, defenseman Dominick Protomastro of the Indians took a penalty for tripping, giving the Lakers a powerplay opportunity. They did not fail to capitalize as the Lakers defenseman got the puck off a face off and shot through a screen to win the game.

Charlie Hastings, a senior and captain on John Jay, commented, “It was just such a devastating loss after playing up to Skaneateles’ level.” Although the Indians were extremely disappointed, they came out the following morning and beat Williamsville South, another strong team from upstate New York.

Overall John Jay Hockey’s first upstate trip of the year was an extremely important learning experience for the Indians, and also gave the team a chance to see how it compares to the best teams in the state.