For a brief moment Wednesday night at Greater Baldwinsville Ice Arena, an unthinkable scenario presented itself.
Despite its 14-4-2 record, despite its no. 5 state ranking and despite its National Conference regular-season title, the Baldwinsville ice hockey team found itself tied with 3-16 Watertown IHC in the first period of its Section III Division I quarterfinal.
That concern was brief, though, and thanks to the likes of Adam Tretowicz, the Bees quickly restored order and rolled to a 6-2 victory over the Cavaliers, guaranteeing that it will be on home ice at Lysander for this week’s sectional semifinal.
This was the same IHC team B’ville had flattened 10-0 at Lysander on Jan. 20, which kick-started a seven-game win streak that the Bees carried into the sectional tournament.
So when Isaiah Pompo’s goal early in the first period put B’ville on the board, it looked all normal – until the Cavaliers answered when Jordan Trudeau scored, pulling his side even 1-1.
From there, Tretowicz took over. Twice in the latter stages of the first period, Tretowicz put shots past IHC goaltender Grant Chamberlain, and the Bees were in front for good.
B’ville maintained its pressure throughout the second period, and then made it 4-1 when Tretowicz beat Chamberlain, completing his hat trick.
Kyle Lindsay added to the margin by scoring barely a minute into the final period, and Alex Paterson-Jones would tack on a goal to counter a second tally from Trudeau.
Numerous B’ville players helped out, as Matt Monaco notched a pair of assists, with Charlie Bertrand, Matt Abbott, Charlie McAllister and Carson Hayes joining Pompo in the assist column.
Only the great work of Chamberlain, who made 40 saves, kept it from getting more lopsided. B’ville took 46 shots to IHC’s 11, meaning that goalie Matt Sabourin only had to make nine saves.
Three days later, B’ville found out that it would get the Division I semifinal it craved the most – a chance to end West Genesee’s seven-year sectional championship reign on home ice, this after the Wildcats got past Liverpool 3-2 in its opening-round game at Shove Park.
The Bees and Wildcats played to a 2-2 tie on Jan. 9. Since then, Derek Farrell’s return from injury vastly improved WG’s attack, but now it had to face what it didn’t need to worry about in this long sectional title run – namely, winning a true road game.
This semifinal on Tuesday night at Lysander is one of the biggest home games for B’ville hockey in years, and the stakes are a trip to Utica Memorial Auditorium for the Feb. 28 sectional final against Syracuse or Rome Free Academy.
