Jan 29, 2026
SLP’s Eli McCormick skates with the puck during the Lake Placid Winter Carnival championship game on Jan. 24 against Plattsburgh at the Olympic Center in Lake Placid. (News photo — Parker O’Brien)
LAKE PLACID — With a chance to add another tournament title to its trophy case, the Saranac Lake Placid boys hockey team came up short on Saturday, Jan. 24, falling 3-1 to the Plattsburgh Hornets in the championship game of the annual Lake Placid Winter Carnival tournament at the Olympic Center’s 1932 Jack Shea Arena.
Sam Bezio scored twice for the Hornets, while Cooper Holland added an empty-net goal off an assist from Ben Bezio as Plattsburgh avenged its 3-1 loss to the SLP during the Casey McHugh Memorial Tournament on Dec. 12 in Saranac Lake. The Hornets’ goaltender Owen Chappel made 28 saves en route to the win.
Ayden McCormick scored the lone goal for SLP, which kicked off the tournament with a 4-1 victory on Jan. 23 over the Northeastern Clinton Cougars, while Scottie Nicholas made 33 saves. The team is now 5-6-1 overall.
“(We’re a) little disappointed, obviously, in the outcome, but give a lot of credit to Plattsburgh tonight because they were down players, and they did what they had to do and they won the game,” SLP’s head coach Josh Spanburgh said. “Big ups to their goalie, Chappel, who kept a lot of shots out of the net and to Sam Bezio, who made two great rushes and got two great goals.”
The Hornets, which defeated Blackstone Valley Rhode Island, 3-1 in the first game of the tournament, jumped out to a 1-0 advantage on Jan. 24 when Sam Bezio found the back of the net less than three minutes into the first period.
SLP’s Owen Lawrence looks to make a pass during the Lake Placid Winter Carnival championship game on Jan. 24 against Plattsburgh at the Olympic Center in Lake Placid. (News photo — Parker O’Brien)
Trailing by one, McCormick connected a pass from Brice Heery around the halfway point of the middle period to even the contest at 1-1. The goal was McCormick’s 22nd of the season.
However, as SLP started to take the momentum, Sam Bezio split the SLP defense and buried a five-hole goal to reclaim the lead.
“That (goal) was a little bit of a spear to us,” Spanburgh said. “We thought we had them on the edge. We thought we had tired them out. In the third period, we kept running, (thought) we could do it, but they held their own and did a great job.”
With less than a minute left in the contest and Nicholas pulled for the extra attacker, SLP nearly tied the game when Eli McCormick’s shot was rebounded and deflected just off the post. The Hornets then scored on the empty net a few seconds later.
“The effort is there,” Spanburgh said. “We’ve just now got to hope the effort turns into some more goals on the scoreboard.”
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SLP 4, NCCS 1
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Braydon Harvey scored two goals and added two assists as the SLP boys beat the Cougars 4-1 in their first game of the tournament on Jan. 23.
SLP’s Oren Preston also had four points — one goal and three assists — while Ryan Bartholomew scored one goal and had two assists. Nicholas had 26 saves en route to the win.
SLP led for the entire contest, as the team scored at least one goal in all three periods. Harvey was SLP’s selection to the all-tournament team for his play over the two games.
“(He) had two really good games after maybe a bad game a couple ago,” Spanburgh said. “But he really did well and he was worthy of an all-star selection.”
Harvey is now third in the Champlain Valley Athletic Conference for points with 19. He trails only his teammate McCormick, who has 26, and Plattsburgh’s Holland, who has 21.
While trailing 4-0, Cobe LaFountain got Northeastern Clinton on the board with a goal assisted by Gage Dumas late in the third period, but the team didn’t score again. The Cougars’ goalie, Greyson LaFountain, had 28 saves. Northeastern Clinton placed third in the tournament after beating Blackstone Valley Rhode Island, 5-2 on Jan. 24.
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