Third place never felt so satisfying.
It wasn’t just that the Fayetteville-Manlius ice hockey team secured that lofty spot in the Division I standings with a 4-3 victory over Baldwinsville Tuesday night at Cicero Twin Rinks, but the way it all unfolded made it even more special.
Trailing by two goals with less than 10 minutes left in regulation, the Hornets pulled off a stunning turnaround to take the lead, absorbed a Bees comeback late in regulation and then prevailed in overtime on Spencer Sasenbury’s goal.
Entering the night, F-M had won seven of eight games to climb up the Division I ladder. Now it only trailed season-long front-runners Syracuse and West Genesee, but still had to fend off B’ville and Fulton, who had chances to overtake them.
It was Senior Night for nine F-M players -Colin Debejian, Will Duncanson, Ben Hammond, Mike Hockenberger, Jake Johnston, Josh Kuchinski, Brendan McDonald, Jason Tedeschi and A.J. Williamson. And many of them would assume central roles in the comeback.
For a while, though, B’ville, despite missing six players out with illness or injury, had control. Tyler Derito’s goal 5:39 into the first period put the Bees in front, and it got to 2-0 when Luke Hoskin converted on a breakaway 1:11 into the second period.
As the game wore on, F-M’s attack picked up, and it stayed patient, even when none of its first 20 shots got past Bees goalie Brad Neill and it remained off the board deep into the third period.
Everything changed when Kuchinski pushed in a rebound goal with 9:29 left. Barely three minutes later, a Bees turnover deep in its own end led to Jackson Denton putting one past O’Neill to tie it.
Before B’ville could settle down, with 4:47 to play it was Hockenberger pouring in on a breakaway and converting a wrist shot. In a span of less than six minutes, a two-goal deficit had turned into a 3-2 lead.
The Bees didn’t go away, taking advantage of a power play as Hoskin tied it with 1:48 to play with his second goal of the night, leading to the five-minute OT period.
Midway through the extra frame, Sasensbury found an open spot at the right circle. With a hard wrist shot, he beat O’Neil for the game-winner.
While F-M finished its regular season 13-6-1, CBA/Jamesville-DeWitt took a setback when it traveled north and lost, 4-1, to the Watertown IHC Cavaliers.
Meeting Ithaca two nights later at Onondaga Nation Arena, the Brothers lost again, 3-2, despite a goal and assist from Kodi Dotterer and Tanner Burns as Brackton Bowler and Matt Walker also had assists and Joe Salvador earned 21 saves
CBA/J-D’s 5-4-3 league record (8-9-3 overall) matched that of Rome Free Academy, but the Black Knights won their head-to-head meeting, so it’s RFA facing F-M in the sectional quarterfinals Thursday night at 7:15 at the Twin Rinks.
Because of its seventh-place finish, the Brothers would need to beat no. 10 seed Cazenovia (who won a play-in game over Watertown IHC 3-2) in Tuesday’s opening round to join F-M in the quarterfinals.
