LYSANDER –
Most winters, unless they win state championships, good high school ice hockey teams end their campaigns with post-season defeats that leave them longing for better results.
That couldn’t happen in a pandemic-altered 2021 season, and by the time they left Three Rivers Athletic Complex ice for the final time, Baldwinsville was not just victorious, but excited about what next winter might bring.
This charge began last Friday night when Fayetteville-Manlius arrived in Lysander. Having already beat the Hornets 4-2 a month earlier at Cicero Twin Rinks, the Bees were more emphatic in the rematch, prevailing 7-1.
Early goals by Braden Penafether-Stevenson and Gavin Miller got B’ville in front, but F-M answered, making the score 2-1 going into the second period.
From there, though, it was all Bees, a blitz of five unanswered tallies, all in the second period, with Luke Hoskin converting twice during that surge.
Penafeather-Stevenson and Miller added goals, as did Matt Carner, while Alex Pompo notched a pair of assists. Single assists went to Reese Gilmore, Hunter Evans and Garrett Sutton, with Penafeather-Stevenson tacking on an assist. Overall, B’ville took 53 shots to the Hornets’ 14.
Less than 24 hours later, the Bees’ season concluded against visiting Fulton, and as with F-M, what was a close contest early broke open as, led by Hoskin ,B’ville subdued the Red Raiders 6-1.
Freddy White’s goal, assisted by Adam Cooney, allowed Fulton to play the Bees to a 1-1 first-period draw. Again, B’ville would take over with five unanswered goals, only this time it spread them out over the last two periods.
More than anyone, Hoskin, in his last game in a B’ville uniform, burned the Red Raiders, notching three goals for a hat trick and adding a pair of assists as Mike Marsallo also got two assists.
Pompo had one goal and one assist, with Keegan Lynch and Sam Ciappa also finding the net. Carner, Sutton and Cooper Foote had one assist apiece as Jon Schirmer recorded 13 saves, just as fellow goalie Leo Legault had done the night before.
All told, B’ville went 8-4-1 this season, just behind Syracuse (9-3) and West Genesee (8-2-2) in terms of its top Division I rivals. Skaneateles had the best overall mark of 14-0-2 as its unbeaten streak stretched to 58 games.
Six seniors graduate – Hoskin, Pompo, Foote, Marsallo, Zach Cole and Jace Ordway. But that still leaves a solid returning cast for 2021-22, when hopefully post-season hockey returns and the Bees expect to be in the midst of it.
