Even before the calendar hit mid-December, the Baldwinsville ice hockey team would know plenty about itself.
Between a tough road trip, a challenging tournament on home ice and a rematch of last winter’s Section III Division I final with West Genesee on Friday night at Lysander Arena, the Bees could not ask for a more challenging start.
Of course, the clash with the Wildcats meant the most, since WG returned most of its roster from last year’s run to the state title game that got launched with a tough 1-0 victory over B’ville in the 2016 sectional final.
However, it mattered to the Bees how it fared in the trio of games that preceded the Wildcats’ visit, which commenced with the Nov. 26 season opener where it went to Rochester Institute of Technology’s Gene Polisseni Center and took a 2-0 defeat to Victor.
All game long, B’ville found itself in a defensive mode, turning back a wave of Blue Devil attacks. Meeting them, Bees goaltender Alex Rose recorded 40 saves, but allowed single goals in the first and third periods, enough for Victor to finish in front.
Following that, B’ville worked for a week before the Bobby Conklin Memorial Tournament got underway. In last Friday’s opening round, the Bees faced Fulton, while the Syracuse Cougars took on Cazenovia.
B’ville handled its end of it, defeating Fulton 4-1, though it didn’t prove too easy. Ryan Gebhardt netted the team’s first goal of the season, the only one for either side in the opening period.
Just 21 seconds into the second period, Cam Sweeney’s goal doubled the margin, though Rocco Cannatta’s tally assisted by Josh Dynka, got Fulton on the board, and it stayed 2-1 until intermission.
Any doubts about the outcome were erased, though, when Josh Racha found the net just 59 seconds into the third period. Then Ben Dwyer connected with 10:47 left, giving the Bees four different goal-scorers as Connor Carhart, Jamey Natoli and Parker Schroeder each got credit for an assist and Rose topped 14 of 15 shots he faced.
Then B’ville watched as Syracuse, with five goals in the first period and eight different goal-scorers, smashed Cazenovia 10-0, setting up Saturday afternoon’s final between the two sides primed to challenge West Genesee for sectional Division I honors.
And the Bees got the best of it, prevailing 5-4 in a game where it trailed for long stretches, but showed plenty of heart in rallying to tie it before Gebhardt slipped in the winning goal with one second left in regulation.
Already, Gebhardt had a goal, part of the tense exchange that had taken place throughout the afternoon. B’ville and Syracuse were even, 1-1, after one period, with the Cougars sneaking in front 3-2 by the second intermission as Andrew Hodgens, C.J. Walsh and Bryan O’Mara earned the goals.
But the Bees tied it, 3-3, in the third period, having seen Gebhardt, Dumond and Jacob Abbey find the net and assists get credited to Racha, Dwyer and Carhart. Also, Josh Smith, getting his turn in goal as Rose rested, earned many of his 24 saves down the stretch before Gebhardt beat Syracuse goalie Jack Klawitter for the game-winner.
B’ville and Syracuse are set to meet again Dec. 20 at Meachem Rink, though first the Bees have that Friday showdown with West Genesee and a couple of games next week that include a rematch with Fulton (who routed Cazenovia 9-2 in the Conklin Tounament consolation game) and Liverpool, who also plays home games at Lysander.
