The Syracuse Stars Jr. B team opened their season with a 3 game sweep and a title at the Buffalo Stars Labor Day Tourney. After last week’s exhibition debacle vs the Mass Maple Leafs the Stars really turned it around. The team responded very well to a tough video session on Monday. The boys had to have a pretty thick skin as nobody got through it unscathed. After the session the guys had a good week of practice. The results showed on the ice this weekend as the players showed a better grasp of the concepts. 

The Stars outscored their opponents 10-4 for the weekend and out shot each opponent they faced. The tourney was set up as a 12 point system (4 per game) and the Stars took 11.5 out of 12 points in their 3 wins. In Game 1 on Saturday the Stars defeated the Philly Little Flyers from the Met Jr. B League 4-2. The Stars opened the scoring on the power play as Tre Berg put a one timer through the 5 hole on a set up from Brian Roller and Dan Cibelli. The Stars increased their lead on a rebound goal after good shift on the forecheck. Mike Montagna picked up the goal during a goal mouth scramble with assists to Joey Wilson and Dillon Black.  The Stars gave 1 back as a bad line change led to a 3 on 2 break and Philly capitalized on a rebound to make it 2-1. Eric Sorenson had 9 saves in the first half for the Stars.  In the second half the Stars put up 2 goals to go up 4-1. Montagna got his second on a nice wrap around goal with Wilson making a nice play on the wall to pick up his second assist of the day. The Stars then picked up their first SH goal of the year as Cibelli made a nice pass off the wall to spring Black. Dillon hit Andrew Francis with a pass coming into the zone late and Drew put another goal home 5 hole to put the Stars up 3. The Flyers got 1 back on the PP but the Stars Bryan Jones shut the door in a 12 save second half to pick up the win. 

Seldom will the Jr. Stars play 2 games in 1 day but on Saturday night they were back on the ice to face the Hampton Roads Whalers Jr. B of the Continental Hockey Association. The boys took too many penalties in this one but they managed 3 PP goals to come out with a 3-2 win and set up a chance for the championship on Sunday. Black opened the scoring on the PP as he put a backhand in 5 hole with an assist from Cibelli. The Stars gave 1 back as Hampton ripped a shot home on a PP of their own to tie it at 1.  The Stars went up 2-1 with 25 seconds left in the half as Joe Cosimo took a feed from Ben Lewis and his one timer found the back of the net off a PP faceoff. Jonesy posted 5 saves in the first half as the Stars defense tightened up but one of those saves was huge as he stopped a penalty shot with a nice arm save. The second half was back and forth and the Stars couldn’t put the game away as they couldn’t convert on 3 breakaways. The missed chances came back to haunt them as Hampton tied it on a PP one timer with about 6 minutes to play. The Stars didn’t quit and on a PP got a goal from Montagna that found its way home short side with just over 3 minutes to play. Wilson had the helper on the game winner as the Stars clamped down to finish off the game. Sorenson had 8 saves in the second half to pick up the win. 

The Stars faced off with the Buffalo Stars in the Championship game on Sunday as both teams came in undefeated. The Stars dominated the first half, outshooting the hosts 18-2, but couldn’t get one by a hot Buffalo tender. Berg finally got the Stars on the board as he got in a breakaway on a  nice set up from Cibelli. Zach Marjinsky also picked up an assist on the play with about 2 minutes left in the half. Chris Cohen played the first 25 minutes and picked up the win after returning from the OHL’s Sarnia Sting camp but didn’t get to see much action as the Stars defense played very well. In the second half the Stars took a few penalties but were again able to capitalize on the PP as Black got one on the back door on a nice set up from Montagna and Wilson. The hosts hit a Post but really didn’t get any good chances as the Stars defense again played well and kept most of the shots from outside. Wilson added an empty netter from Montagna and Roller to put away the 3-0 win with about 30 seconds left. Sorenson (5 saves) and Jones (5 saves) split the second half as all 3 goalies chipped in on the Stars first shutout of the season.  

It was a solid start for the team heading into their first league games at the Woodchuck Classic next week in Burlington, VT. Hopefully it is a sign of good things to come.

The Syracuse Stars opened their Empire League schedule today against the Bay State Breakers at the Woodchuck Classic in Burlington, VT. The Stars took the ice at Cairns Arena after a rollicking bus ride through the lush hills of Vermont. (Directions anyone? Thanks Davis!!) The youthful Stars managed a point in their first league contest but took the loss in OT 2-1. The Stars Jr. B with 5 92's, 5 91's and  5 90's in the line up battled hard and held their own against a Bay State squad with 6 87's, 11 88's and 6 89's. Age is no excuse though, as we will be the youngest team in the league this year. It was the little things that cost the Stars the game today. On the first shift they gave up a 2-1 rush and the puck was quickly deposited in the net on a nice play by Bay State. From there Bryan Jones had an outstanding game and made a huge post to post glove save just a few minutes later to keep the deficit at 1. The Stars did get their chances but an anemic PP kept the Stars off the board. With time ticking down in the first half the Stars got on the board as Brian Roller made a nice pass into a seam to Mike Montagna. Montagna returned the favor to a cutting Roller who put it in blocker side to tie the game at 1. After the first half both teams had multiple good chances. Jonesy played great and kept it tied at 1. The Stars killed off 3 PP's in the second half but also couldn't capitalize on their PP chances. The PK units really did a nice job of keeping the Breakers off the board. At the end of regulation it was 1-1. In OT the Stars got one chance early but with 3 minutes and change left in OT a bad pinch allowed an odd man rush in the 4 on 4 OT format. Their player let go a laser that found high cheese and the Breakers took the win. Jonesy played outstanding with 34 saves on 36 shots. Several were high quality. The Stars will need to get better at shooting the puck as many quality chances were wasted with slow releases, no shots or shots wide. The little details will need to be shored up before they can consistently win tough games like this one. Tomorrow the Stars will face off with Capital District Selects at 4:30PM in game 2 of the Woodchuck Classic Showcase.

On day 2 of the Woodchuck Classic the Stars Jr. B got into the win column as they put up a 6-1 win over the CD Selects. The win was the first in the Empire League for the Stars this season. The Stars used a balanced attack as they raced to a 5-0 lead at the end of the first half and put the game out of reach heading into the second stanza of the showcase format. The Stars had 6 different goal scorers and 8 players also picked up assists on the day. Syracuse drew a penalty on the first shift of the game and at the 1:10 mark were on the board as Brian Roller put one home 5 hole from the dot on the PP. Zach Marjinsky picked up the assist as they worked the top of the PP to open up the shooting lane. Back on the PP 5 minutes later Dan Cibelli picked up his first of the year as his twisted wrister beat the goalie glove side through a screen. Ben Lewis picked up the assist on the play with a nice set up. A little over 1 minute later the Stars got their 3rd goal as Mick Sicchio picked off an errant clear in the neutral zone and took the puck wide. Mason Richardson picked up his first as he drove the net and put the cross crease feed from Mick and tipped it high blocker side. The Stars went back on the PP and on a 5- 3 advantage Mike Montagna got the Stars 4th goal as Devin Coon's shot wide caromed off the back boards. Montagna batted the puck out of the air and into the net off the back wall carom. Dillon Black also picked up an assist on the play as his cross ice feed got the play started. The blue line struck again a few minutes later as Montagna won a draw in our d-zone and Cooner put a perfect pass to Joe Wilson for the breakaway. Wilson opened the goalie up and slid a backhand home 5 hole to put the Stars up 5-0. In the second half the Stars took a few too many penalties but were able to notch another PP goal as Ben Lewis got his first goal on an absolute rocket, top shelf to the blocker side, from the top of the circle. Wilson gave him a great feed for the one-timer andJoe Cosimo also picked up an assist on the play. Unforunately the Stars and Chris Cohen lost the shutout as the Selects picked up a goal with 19 seconds left in the game for the 6-1 final. Shots for the game were 27-21 in favor of the Stars with Cohen making 20 saves for the win.

The Stars will conclude the weekend at 7:00AM tomorrow as they face off with the South Shore Kings at Gutterson Arena, the home rink of the Vermont Catamounts.

NIIIICE!!!!! STARS PICK UP EARLY MORNING WIN

The Stars Jr. B closed out the Woodchuck Classic, hosted by the Green Mountain Glades, with a 3-1 win over the South Shore Kings. The Stars came out flying in a 7:00AM start and out shot the Kings 39-21 for the game. Posts were ringing all day and a hot goalie and a team that needs to work on its shooting combined to almost steal a game away. The Stars were 0 for 8 on the PP for the day but picked up a SH goal in the first and 2 late goals to get the 3-1 win. The team really skated well on the Olympic ice at Gutterson Arena on the campus of the University of Vermont. From the opening whistle the Stars team speed drew penalties as the forecheck was very solid all day. The Stars were unable to convert on multiple PP chances as the Kings PK units did a good job and their goalie kept the Stars scoreless. The Stars finally got on the board shorthanded as Joe Wilson and Mike Montagna got a 2-1 break. Montagna put one home glove side high to put the Stars up 1-0 with Wilson garnering the assist. From there it was still all Syracuse but they couldn’t convert. With just under 12 minutes to play the Kings evened it up on a nice play to the back door on a PP. It was the only one that got by Brian Jones all day. Jonesy had 20 saves on the day to pick up the win.

In a game the Stars should have been up 3-4 in it was now 1-1. That soon changed as Dan Cibelli put the Stars back up with a nice goal with 7:35 to play. Cibo took a pass in the neutral zone from Dillon Black and got to the net for a good shot. His first shot was stopped but he stayed with it and put the rebound home short side. Mick Sicchio also picked up an assist on the play. With just under 2 minutes to play the Stars got some insurance as the line of Wilson, Montagna and Black put together a solid shift and a puck went in off of a Kings player in a goal mouth scramble. Black got the goal with Montagna and Wilson getting the helpers. From there the Stars played very solid in their own end and didn’t give up a good chance to preserve the 3-1 win.

A very good first weekend for the team as they took 5 out of a possible 6 points on their opening league weekend. There is still a ton of room for improvement but the coaching staff was pleasantly surprised at how far the team as come in the last couple of weeks. It was a great job by the players exceeding the goals for the weekend as they took 5 points and only gave up 4 goals in 3 games.

The Stars will be home next weekend for 2 games with the Valley Forge Minutemen at the Nedrow Arena. Game times are 4:00PM on Saturday the 15^th and 11:00AM on Sunday the 16^th.

The Stars Jr. B traveled to the Boston Jr. Bruins Showcase at the New England Sports Center in Marlboro, MA this past weekend. The Stars had a sister kisser weekend as they came home with a 1-1-1 record. There were high and lows to the weekend but the more I stew on the mistakes that cost us points in the league standings this weekend the more disappointed I am that we only took 3 out of 6 points.

In game 1 on Friday the Stars faced off with the Boston Jr. Bruins. The Bruins are usually one of the top teams in the league and this season they have another good squad. The Stars lost the game 3-0 and key mistakes led to the first 2 Bruins goals. The Stars came out flying early and put good pressure on the B’s. However a 2 on 1 break with just under 5 minutes gone was given up and the Bruins converted on their first shot to go up 1-0. 12 minutes later the Bruins got a SH goal as a miss handle at the blue line led to a breakaway that was put home to make it 2-0. The Stars took a late penalty in the first half and put themselves down 5 on 3 early in the 2^nd half. The Bruins wasted little time as a slapper from the point was deflected home to make it 3-0. The Stars never could solve the Bruin’s goalie as he made several good saves to keep them scoreless. Bryan Jones took the hard luck loss in net making 18 saves for the Stars. Our mistakes hurt us more in this then what the Bruins did so that was a little disappointing in the whole scheme of the game.

In game 2 on Friday the Stars got a shutout from Eric Sorenson and 5 points a piece from Mike Montagna (2G-3A) and Joe Wilson(1G-4A) in a 6-0 win over the Valley Jr. Warriors. This was the Stars best game as they pressured the Warriors throughout the contest. After an early flurry by the Warriors was stopped by Sorenson the Stars got on the board about 10 minutes in as Montagna took a breakout pass from Wilson and put home a shot short side. Mick Sicchio also picked up an assist. Joe Cosimo put the Stars up 2 just over 1 minute later as his one timer on the PP found twine low stick side. Wilson and Montagna had the assists. Montagna got his 2^nd of the game as he scored on a rebound of a point shot from Cosimo. Wilson had the other helper. Wilson then got a goal with just over 2 minutes left in the half as he set up on the left post and took a pass from behind the net from Montagna and buried it. Dan Cibelli got the play started. In the Second half Zach Farrell poked home a rebound of a Mason Richardson shot to put the Stars up 5. Andrew Francis also got a helper on the goal. Dillon Black closed out the scoring as he took a cross ice feed from Montagna and put a shot home low stick side. Wilson picked up his 4^th assist of the game on the play. Sorenson had 14 saves in the shutout win.

On Saturday the Stars played their 3^rd game in 20 hours and came away with a 3-3 tie vs the New England Falcons. Again the Stars put themselves in a hole early as a weak pass through the neutral zone was picked off and put home on a breakaway just over 2 minutes into the game. The Stars put on good pressure but couldn’t get the equalizer until Wilson scored on assists from Montagna and Black with just over 2 minutes left in the first half. Bryan Jones played the first half for the Stars and had 10 saves. Chris Cohen took over between the pipes for the second half of the game. The Stars went down 2-1 in the second half as a failed clear led to a high shot coming off the glass to the front of the net. The Falcons scored on the scramble to take the lead. The Stars tied it 4 minutes later as Dillon Black tipped home a point shot from Andrew Francis. Cosimo also picked up an assist on the play. 1 minute later the Stars took the lead as Mason Richardson put home his own rebound on assists from Cibelli and Brian Roller. The lead was short lived as the Falcons tied it on a slap shot just 45 seconds later. Both teams had good chances down the stretch but couldn’t get the winner. The Stars Joe Cosimo had the best chance in OT as he took a one timer on a feed from Montagna but the Falcons goalie got just enough of it to send it wide. Cohen made 18 saves in the second half and OT for the Stars.

Overall an OK weekend but the mistakes cost us in both games where we didn’t get the wins. They will need to be corrected before the Stars can expect to consistently win games.

The Stars will be off next weekend before heading to New Hampshire for the Monarch’s Showcase Oct. 5^th – 7^th.

Over the last couple of weeks the Stars Jr. B Hockey Club has went 2-2-1 as they came off a 1-2 weekend at the Monarchs Showcase and went 1-0-1 vs Tri State at home this past weekend. The Stars finally got a little offense in their last game, a 6-1 victory over Tri State. 3 PP goals and a SH goal along with 2 even strength tally's put the Stars over the 3 goal mark for the first time in 5 games. The Stars have been an avg. team early in the season but hopefully as they get farther into the season they will get a better understanding of what it takes to be a top echelon team in the league. There are no easy games in the Empire League as the scores keep showing. On any given day anyone can win. Ending the cliche's the Stars have to learn that every game matters and they have to take it 1 game at a time if they are going to reach their goals set out for the season.

We have put the boys on notice that the expectations of them are going up and hopefully this will lead to more focus in practice and better performances on the ice. After Saturday's 3-3 tie with Tri State, where the Stars outshot the Selects 54-25 but managed to not get the win we let it be known that from here on out we will be doing our best to push the team to a new level. We'll see who responds.

On a brighter note some of our Stars player's are doing quite well on the score sheet as we have 3 forwards in the top 15 in scoring in the league, 2 defensemen in the top 15 amongst the defense and a goalie also in the top 15. If we can get more contributions from other players the team will be a tough game for anyone down the line. This weekend the Stars will be traveling to Vermont to face a Green Mountain squad that just put up a tie and an OT loss at home against Salem. They will have their hands full as they will be jumping off the bus in Game 1 and have an early morning game 2. They may be short a couple of players as well due to suspensions from last weekend. Hopefully they will continue to learn the lesson that there is no such thing as an easy game in the Empire League.

Sunday morning brought one of those days that the Vermont tourist bureau would want on their posters. It was bright sunshine and 70 degrees as we made our way to Norwich University located in a valley of the Adirondacks in Northfield, VT. Amazing view of the fall foliage and the Norwich rink is tremendous for a D III school. The Stars again got going early on the PP as Wilson again ran a give and go, this time with Montagna, and put a shot far side high to open the scoring just under 3 minutes in. Mike Montagna then sandwiched 2 PP goals around a green Mountain PP goal to put the score at 3-1 after 1. Dillon Black and Andrew Francis had helpers on the first goal and Black and Wilson picked up assists on the 2^nd goal. In the 2^nd period Brian Roller picked up 2 goals as he got a nice feed from Cibelli on the first goal and a nice assist cross crease from Tre Berg for his second goal of the period which came on the PP. In the 3^rd period the Stars just kept skating and picked up 4 more goals. Cibelli scored on a nice rush after taking a touch pass from Berg in the neutral zone. Tyler Montagna then got his first goal as Joe Wison and Mike Montagna got a nice forecheck going in the corner. Tyler took Wilson's feed on the edge of the crease and slammed 1 home 5 hole. Devin Coon then got his 2^nd of the weekend on the PP as his shot from the point deflected in off a Glades player to make it 8-1. Marginsky and Montagna picked up helpers. Wilson then closed it out as he took a feed from Montagna out of the corner and beat the goalie on a second chance short side. Jonesy picked up the win in the net as he made 25 saves. A great road trip as the Stars took 4 points and outscored their opponents 18-2 in the 2 games.

In other Stars news the team’s players voted this past week and elected the teams’ Captain and Assistant Captain’s for this season. The players chose the 3 Captains in voting and Joe Cosimo will be this season’s team Captain. Brad Lukasz and Mike Montagna will be the Assistants for this season. Also the Stars will host Apple Core, the first  place team in the Empire Leagues Eastern Division, for 2 games this weekend at the Nedrow Arena. Game Times are Saturday at 1:00PM and Sunday at 8:30AM.

Another 2 weeks and the Stars continue to be plagued by inconsistent efforts. One game they seem to be really getting the concepts and play up to their potential and the next game it all seems to go out the window. In the last set of games 2 weeks ago it was a tough Saturday and a very good Sunday vs. Apple Core. We lose a tough one 3-2 on Saturday and then put together one of the best periods and games of the year in a 6-1 win on Sunday. This weekend we played maybe one of our best games of the year in a 3-2 win over Maksymum on Saturday and then come right back and get thumped 5-1 in Sunday's game. The Stars are a tough team to figure out right now. It is especially frustrating in the coaches room.  We are a young team and the growing pains are going to continue. We now will have to deal with more distractions then ever but hopefully the team can push through it and make some headway in playing  more consistently.

Next weekend the Stars will be in Rochester where they will face the Salem Ice Dogs and a very hot South Shore Kings squad. Hopefully they can pick up their level of consistency as they head into the Thanksgiving break and a very tough stretch of games.

The Stars Jr. B bounced out of a 7 game winless streak as they were able to take 2 games at home this weekend from the Brewster Bulldogs. In their last 10 games before the weekend the Stars could only manage 1 win as they went through a tough part of their schedule with games vs Maksymum, Pittsburgh, New Hampshire and Jersey. After a disappointing weekend in Jersey where the Stars lost 6-5 with 18 seconds left and then were blown out in a 6-2 loss the team had a tough week of practice and refocused itself.

The Stars have had to find themselves after some changes in the line up over the last few weeks. Dan Cibelli leaving the squad and Mike Montagna being called up to the Jr. A’s left a hole in the Stars offense. We knew we would suffer some growing pains but hopefully the team is starting to come together. The team needed to find a few players to step up. It was also key for the team to find more depth as the top teams in the league seem to come at you with 3-4 lines. Joe Wilson has continued his strong play as he has now taken over the Empire League lead in scoring. James Cathers has been a huge pick up for the Stars since Dec. 1^st. James has pumped in 15 goals and 5 assists in 7 games so far. Without his scoring I don’t think we even get the couple of ties we had before this weekend. Brian Roller has also picked up his game especially on the PP.

This weekend hopefully will lead to better things for the Stars. In the 2 victories the Stars put 17 different players on the score sheet. We had 16 different players on the score sheet in Sunday’s 11-2 win alone. 7 or 8 players had multipoint efforts. Both goaltenders picked up wins this weekend and held Brewster to 3 goals or less which is something we hadn’t been doing. Our PP was very good this weekend as we scored 9 PP goals. After an adjustment on Sunday morning the guys did not allow a PP goal against after allowing 3 in Saturday’s 5-3 win. Jim Forbes even picked up a SH goal to close out today’s scoring.

Hopefully this is the start of a streak in the other direction as the Stars now have a full roster and players will need to compete for ice time harder then ever. If we can continue to get production across the board very good things will happen in the New Year.

Below is the summary of the game from Dave Smolnycki the Stars Media Relations director.

It was the best of (over)times. It was the worst of (over)times.

My apologies to Dickens but this pretty much sums up the Stars final weekend of 2007 as they went to TriState and ended up with a split. In Game 1 the Stars over came a late TriState goal to win 4-3 in OT on a snipe by James Cathers on a nice set up from Joe Wilson. On Sunday the Stars weren't so fortunate as they blew a 2 goal lead with 3 minutes remaining. TriState potted a shorty with just under 3 minutes to play and then tied it with 13 seconds left as they pulled the goaltender and were able to score with the extra attacker. Tri State then picked up the win with less then 30 Seconds left in the OT as they converted on a 2-1 rush.  It was a good weekend of hockey but we let a point slip away and they become more valuable everyday with the race for the playoffs coming to an end.

More from the Stars 3-0 weekend in Marlboro to follow.