Exciting as it was for the Baldwinsville ice hockey team to play in the Carrier Dome on Nov. 21, it was quite eager to move on from that spectacle, especially given that it ended in a painful 3-2 overtime defeat to Cicero-North Syracuse.
Just two weeks later, everything had changed.
Now the Bees were a confident group that was making its case as a Section III Division I title contender, especially when it beat the Syracuse Cougars 4-2 in Saturday’s championship game of the Bobby Conklin Memorial Tournament.
Both sides had won by lopsided margins in last Friday’s opening round – B’ville 11-1 over Fulton, Syracuse 11-0 over Ontario Bay – and many thought that the Cougars, who had scored 20 total goals in its first two games, would overwhelm the Bees’ defense by game’s end.
But that never materialized. Instead, during a scoreless first period, the Bees kept making big stops, and goaltender Matt Sabourin frustrated Syracuse with his ability to gobble up the puck, earning his way to 28 saves.
When the deadlock was broken in the second period, Matt Abbott was at the forefront. He helped B’ville go up 2-1 going to the third period, and then led the getaway, finishing the game with a three-goal hat trick.
Carson Hayes netted the Bees’ other goal, while James Pelcher, Kyle Lindsay, Matt Monaco and Ryan Gebhardt picked up one assist apiece. Syracuse’s goals came from Sean Eccles and Collin Thompson.
A night earlier, against Fulton, B’ville quickly left Fulton behind them with a barrage of six goals in the first period. Then it nearly doubled that total over the ensuing two periods as Adam Tretowicz led the way with a three-goal hat trick.
Joe Glamos, for the third game in a row, scored twice, and tacked on three assists, the same total as Andrew Starrentino. Pelcher and Lindsay also had two-goal outings, with Charlie McAllister adding a goal and two assists and Alex Paterson-Jones finding the net, too. Lindsay, Ben Dwyer and Isaiah Pompo got one assist apiece.
Following the defeat in the Dome, the Bees had to wait 11 days before returning to game action. When it did, in last Tuesday night’s home opener against Liverpool, punishing defense, great work in goal by Matt Sabourin and a late scoring surge produced a 4-0 shutout over the Warriors.
B’ville and Liverpool both play their home games at Greater Baldwinsville Ice Arena in Lysander, but as the primary tenants, the Bees weren’t about to prove neighborly, especially after the events in the Dome and seeing that the Warriors gave up eight goals in a season-opening loss to CBA/Jamesville-DeWitt on Nov. 28.
Yet after going in front 1-0 early in the first period, the Bees could not get anything else against the Warriors in the first two periods. Time and again, attacks were turned back as Liverpool goaltender Steve Kozikoski put together a 34-save effort.
But this wasn’t a one-sided battle. Liverpool had plenty of its own chances to pull even, only to see Sabourin, atoning for the way the game with C-NS got away, pick up a hard-earned shutout by stopping all 32 shots he faced.
That effort was rewarded with some relief during the third period, when the Bees, led again by Glanos, got away with a trio of goals. Just as he had in the Dome, Glanos found the net twice. Tretowicz finished with a pair of assists, while Pelcher and Starrentino earned the other goals. Matt Metcalf also got credit for an assist.
The win in the Conklin tournament followed, and having honored the memory of their late captain, B’ville would get some rest before hosting Rome Free Academy on Friday night.
