SLP tops rival Tupper Lake, 8-5 | News, Sports, Jobs

In front of a packed house at the Tupper Lake Civic Center, SLP’s Ayden McCormick, put on a show, by recording a hat trick, while teammate Braydon Harvey had two goals and three assists. SLP’s Carson St. Louis, Carver Bell and Will Lanriault also scored.

Evan Harvey added two assists for SLP, while Bell, St. Louis and Ethan Knight each chipped in with one. SLP’s offense has been lights out as of late, leading the squad to its third consecutive victory while improving to 4-2 overall. The team has scored 38 goals in their six games this season.

“Almost every practice (we’re) talking about our forecheck and how we want to get in on them and that’s probably our bread and butter right now,” SLP head coach Josh Spanburgh said. “Our guys are getting in on them, and forcing mistakes and trying to take advantage and we’ve definitely had some success finding the back of the net.”

On the other side, Tupper Lake dropped its sixth consecutive game, falling to 0-6, but the team has been vastly improving in recent weeks, according to Lumberjacks head coach Broyce Guerrette.

Tupper Lake’s Karter Kenniston attempts to take a shot on net during Thursday’s home game against SLP.
(Enterprise photo — Parker O’Brien)

Tupper Lake had previously suffered an 8-1 loss on Dec. 17 to the same SLP team in the annual Casey McHugh Memorial Tournament at the Saranac Lake Civic Center. But after finally being able to practice and host games at the Tupper Lake Civic Center — which had been without ice for nearly two months due to a broken chilling unit — along with some changes to its forecheck, the team has begun to negate those early season woes.

“We were running a more aggressive offensive forecheck, and it just wasn’t working out for us,” Guerrette said. “We got caught with a lot of people down low, which hurt us on the rush on the way back. So being able to switch our forecheck really kind of gave us a defensive-minded offense, which actually really helps us because we have a lot of players with really heavy hard shots and it’s given them a better opportunity to get those shots off.”

Among the biggest changes included moving senior Karter Kenniston back to defense rather than forward — the position he played against SLP a few weeks ago. And on Thursday, it proved to be a difference-maker as Kenniston scored three goals.

“The big thing with Karter is that if he can give us the minutes that we want to give him then he plays really great,” Guerrette said. “We noticed that he doesn’t seem to get tired, so the more minutes he gets the harder he plays. He had a hat trick tonight as a defenseman. What he did really well tonight was he kept his emotions in check, which he’s out on the ice more.”

Senior defenseman Gavin Mitchell and freshman forward Luka Dukett also scored. Mason Fowler, Gauge LaValley, Brendan Clark, Jack Brooker and Brady Skiff each added an assist in the team’s second home game of the season — its first was against Thousand Islands on Dec. 31.

SLP’s Ryan Bruce carries the puck during Thursday’s road game against Tupper Lake.
(Enterprise photo — Parker O’Brien)

While it wasn’t necessarily a stellar first period from either squad — especially defensively — SLP did jump out to a 3-0 lead on goals from Bell, Braydon Harvey and McCormick. However, the Lumberjacks responded with back-to-back goals from Kenniston and Dukett to make the score 3-2.

“I think they handled the pressure (of being down) pretty well,” Guerrette said. “But we tend to get ourselves in the penalty box, which causes a man down and then they get a goal.”

St. Louis extended SLP’s advantage to two scores with a goal late in the opening period, but Kenniston again pushed the score to 4-3 with an early goal in the second period.

“When you have a rivalry game like this, there’s a lot of emotion and a lot of things that are happening,” Spanburgh said. “Sometimes you can get pulled away from what you’re trying to do because you’re getting into the excitement think they really rebounded in the second and third.”

McCormick scored two goals in the final two periods, while Landriault and Braydon Harvey connected on one to separate themselves from the Lumberjacks. McCormick now had 12 goals this season, which leads all of Section VII, and is five goals ahead of the next leading scorer in the section — which is tied between teammate Braydon Harvey and Beekmantown’s Edward Sweenor, who each have seven.

Tupper Lake’s Bauer Callaghan, left, skates with the puck while SLP’s Ryan Bruce defends him during Thursday’s game in Tupper Lake.
(Enterprise photo — Parker O’Brien)

“He’s is just deadly with his shot right now,” Spanburgh said. “I think everyone was moving around in that offensive zone finding where they should be. A guy like our captain Will Landriault. He’s around the net so he’s getting goals. Braydon had a nice deflection, a lot of guys are also scoring which is really cool.”

Kenniston netted his hat-trick in the early minutes of the third period, while Mitchell, who Guerrette said has been playing well as of late, buried a goal in the later part of the third.

“(Mitchell) seemed a little bit more confident in his play and his puck movement and just skating with the puck too, and it gave him a goal,” Guerrette said. “We’re looking more for that from him and we keep telling him to keep trying to boost that confidence and we’re getting there.”

SLP outshot their opponents 38-28, as goaltender Cassidy Goodman recorded 23 saves en route to the victory. Tupper Lake’s Brayden Shannon turned away 30 shots.

Spanburgh said it was a solid win for his team, considering that they haven’t played since Dec. 17.

SLP’s Ayden McCormick looks to take a shot during Thursday’s road game against Tupper Lake.
(Enterprise photo — Parker O’Brien)

“We definitely got some rust off now,” he said. “But we’ve got to work tomorrow at practice, and on Saturday we get to play Williamsville North over in Lake Placid.”

Following that outing, SLP will then return to league play next Thursday at 7 p.m. against the Saranac Central Spartans at the Ameri-Can North Sports Center in Plattsburgh.

The Lumberjacks will host the Massena Raiders at 7 p.m. on Wednesday.

“We do have a tough opponent, but it’s just going to test our defensive and offensive strategy,” Guerrette said. “And make our players are in the right positions. They’re going to have a hard time playing us. That’s for sure.”

Tupper Lake’s Gauge LaValley, left, tries to skate past SLP’s Gerald Woodruff during Thursday’s game in Tupper Lake.
(Enterprise photo — Parker O’Brien)

SLP’s Ayden McCormick, right, shields the puck away from Tupper Lake’s Brendan Arsenault during Thursday’s game in Tupper Lake.
(Enterprise photo — Parker O’Brien)