Aiming to defend a Section III Division I championship it has won each of the last seven years, the West Genesee ice hockey team found itself nearly upended in Saturday night’s opening round of the sectional tournament.
Liverpool came to Shove Park and, bolstered by the hot goaltending of Steven Kozikoski, were in it until the final horn before the Wildcats held on for a 3-2 victory over the Warriors.
Getting one more chance to perform in front of a home crowd in Camillus, WG was facing a Liverpool side that it beat 2-0 on Jan. 12, just before Derek Farrell returned to the lineup and ignited the Wildcats’ attack to score 10 or more goals in four of its last eight games.
At first, Kozikoski was not on the ice during warm-ups, but he and several Liverpool teammates made it to Shove Park in time for the opening face-off.
Still, it took a while for the Warriors to get going, and while that happened, WG bolted to a 2-0 lead.
Just 3:15 into the game, David Procopio, pouncing on a shot by Ryan McDonald that Kozikoski could not hold on to, put home the rebound. Then, at the 7:42 mark of the first period, WG doubled the lead as Jay Considine, taking a pass from Steve Anderson, kept it himself on a two-on-break and sent a low shot between Kozikoski’s pads into the net.
Once that was done, though, Kozikoski began to unleash his net skills, turning back all kinds of Wildcat scoring opportunities and recording 11 saves in the first period.
Fired up by that, Liverpool took advantage of a power play and, 52 seconds into the second period, got on the board when Richie Hart’s shot from the right point flew past Nick Skidmore and found the top left corner of the net. Nate Bittel and Donny Husted earned assists.
Physical play marked the rest of the period, with the Wildcats unable to convert on a four-minute power play and a handful of roughing penalties, too. Kozikoski turned back all nine shots he faced to keep it a 2-1 game with one period left.
Early in the third period, WG’s pressure picked up even more, and it finally paid off when Considine, flashing open at the point, ripped a wrist shot past Kozikoski with 8:13 left. But that 3-1 lead lasted all of 58 seconds before Husted answered on the other end, again cutting the margin to one.
All told, the Wildcats took 38 shots to Liverpool’s eight. But due to Kozikoski’s brilliance, it had to hang on to the puck throughout the final minutes, not letting the Warriors pull for an extra attacker until the waning seconds, at which point it was unable to get a shot at the tying goal.
Now the state no. 10-ranked Wildcats can turn its attention to Tuesday’s Division I semifinal with state no. 5-ranked Baldwinsville at Lysander Arena, after the Bees defeated Watertown IHC 6-2 in its opening-round game.
WG and B’ville tied 2-2 in their lone regular-season meeting Jan. 9. Whoever can prevail in the rematch will go to Utica Memorial Auditorium to meet Syracuse or Rome Free Academy in next Saturday’s sectional final.
