High School Fridays: Queensbury @ LaSalle (hockey), 12/21/18

Ten months ago, Queensbury played spoiler, as a late-season win over LaSalle denied the Cadets their second straight regular season title. Bethlehem clinched the title instead by virtue of the LaSalle loss, then went on to win the Section II title.

Tonight, revenge should've been foremost on the minds of Tim Flanigan's Cadets. It was just the second home game of the season, but a case could be made of LaSalle thinking ahead to Saturday's road match vs. the Capital District (Shaker-Colonie) Jets, who remain mired in the CDHSHL basement. Either that, or plans for revenge were left behind in the locker room with the rest of the egg nog.

It was easy to see that Queensbury still had something to prove. The Spartans outworked the Cadets for the puck virtually the entire night, and left the LaSalle goaltenders with little room to maneuver. With about three minutes left in the first period, Trevor Vogel put the Spartans on the board as he stuffed the puck past Leo Paul. Two minutes later, Tyler Vogel, Trevor's brother, whistled a one-timer past Paul, and it was a 2-0 Spartans lead at the first break.

Making matters worse for LaSalle was the loss of junior defenseman D. J. Pauley to a concussion in that first period. At last report, Pauley had been taken to a hospital for treatment. LaSalle was already short-handed, what with Pauley's younger brother, Nic, suspended for disciplinary reasons, and Reid Murray also dealing with concussion issues.

In the second period, Queensbury put the game away, as Brendan Murphy scored two goals in the space of about three minutes. Flanigan had seen enough, and lifted Paul in favor of fellow sophomore Kyle McGee. McGee acquitted himself well, giving up only one goal, Tyler Vogel's second of the game in the third period, despite being under constant pressure from the Spartans. Hunter Caola broke the shutout in the third, jamming one past Owen Smith to put LaSalle in the scoring column. However, it was too little, and too late. Queensbury takes the measure of LaSalle again, 5-1. The Cadets drop to 2-3-1 overall, 1-3 in league play.

It's right back into the fray for the Cadets at the Capital District Jets tomorrow night, then the annual Mohawks tournament at Union College on Wednesday.
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LaSalle's basketball team hosted Green Tech tonight as well, as their game started 45 minutes before the faceoff at Conway Arena. At press time, the score hadn't been reported to the press, but Connor Cepiel won it for LaSalle (3-3 overall) with a buzzer-beating jump shot. We'll update it in our next report.