The memories came flooding back immediately for Mitch Major. Less than three minutes into the Skaneateles hockey team's Section III, Division 2 semifinal, the Lakers were trailing Clinton #- the fourth consecutive time the Lakers found themselves in that position in the postseason. The previous three had resulted in an early offseason for Skaneateles.

But looking down his bench, Major, the Lakers' head coach, could see this story was going to have a different ending. Skaneateles, ranked No. 3 in New York state, answered with three goals of its own to secure a spot in Saturday's championship game for the first time since 2004. The Lakers will face Whitesboro, which is ranked second in the state, at 1:30 p.m. at the Utica Memorial Auditorium - the same setting where Major played a championship game as a senior in 1989.

“A game isn't five minutes, it's 45 minutes. At the end of 45 minutes, that's when the score counts,” Major said. “We have the confidence in each other that as a team we can outwork people for three periods. If we just stick to the game plan, we believe at the end of the game we can wear teams down.”

It wasn't always that way, though. That attitude was born back in January, when the Lakers made a commitment to their goals.

Struggling through a midseason stretch - as much as an 18-4-2 team can struggle #-the Lakers gathered in their locker room after a loss, seeking a way to get back on track.

“Things just weren't clicking like at the beginning,” Major said. “You had to readjust and figure out what was going wrong. We made it through that.”

Major recalled how the seniors led a discussion with the rest of the team, afterwards approaching the coaches with a simple message: We're ready to focus.

Now, Major points to that experience as a key turning point in preparing the Lakers for playoff hockey.

“Sometimes you get caught up in a what's-in-it-for-me attitude,” Major said. “As a team, we had to ask ourselves, 'What do we really want here? What are we willing to do to reach our goals?' The No. 1 thing is to play as a team and not worry about what's in it for me. When you have 26 guys buy into that, good things are going to happen.”

How right he was.

Skaneateles carries a 13-game unbeaten streak (11-0-2) into Saturday's game, and has outscored its opponents 62-15 in that stretch, never once allowing more than two goals in a game.

Junior Keith Buehler has been leading the way on the scoreboard, as he has all season (37 goals, 27 assists), with senior Tory Cole following closely (20 goals, 26 assists). Alex Richichi has been serving as the backstop with a 1.42 goals against average for the season. What doesn't show up on the stat sheet is the time these Lakers have logged on the practice rink #- and they've certainly made the most of that time.

“Everyone #- not just two or three guys #- was going the extra mile in practice,” Major said of the resurgence midway through the season. “It almost became like, ‘Who can work harder than the next guy.' When you see someone working hard, it wears off.”

It's that sort of team mentality that can push Skaneateles over the hump.

“Everyone has different roles; you have to know what you're good at and stick to your strengths,” Major said.

That's a good thing for the Lakers. Right about now, they're stronger than ever.