To be sure, everyone associated with the Baldwinsville ice hockey program was humbled and honored to take part in the first-ever hockey game contested in the Carrier Dome against Cicero-North Syracuse Friday night, the kickoff to the two-day Frozen Dome Classic.
The Bees just wished the ending was happier.
Up with less than a minute to play in regulation, B’ville could not hold on to that lead, and saw the Northstars score less than a minute into overtime to prevail, 3-2, casting a small shadow on an otherwise memorable evening.
“We had lots of chances and couldn’t bury them,” said Bees head coach Mark Lloyd. “That can come back to haunt you.”
On an ice surface laid down where the Syracuse University basketball court normally sits, B’ville had control of the flow of play for long stretches, but ran into a hot goaltender in the Northstars’ Carson Rutkowski, who finished with 25 saves.
“The goalie can make a difference, and Carson came up big for us,” said C-NS head coach Kyle Bailey.
Nerves were present for both teams during the game’s opening stretch. But they started to disappear when, 2:16 into the game, C-NS’s Connor Doren, off passes from Noah Koenig and Chris Schneid, blasted a wrist shot from the point into the net for the first hockey goal ever recorded in the Dome.
Midway through the first period, B’ville, still trailing 1-0, started applying heavy pressure. Though it always played at even strength, it kept coming in waves at the Northstars’ defenders. Only the great work of Rutkowski, who made 10 saves, kept his team in front.
Less than two minutes into the second period, though, B’ville broke through, doing so at the 1:51 mark when sophomore Joe Glamos put home his own rebound, with Matt Abbott and Adam Tretowicz getting credit for assists.
Just as the Bees’ first power play was ending at the 9:51 mark of the period, Glamos broke in alone, up the middle, and beat Rutkowski up high for his second goal, giving the Bees a 2-1 lead.
And it stayed that way for the rest of the second period and much of the third period, too. Even when the Northstars gained a power play when Connor Bertrand was called for slashing with 2:47 left, B’ville killled it off, and now had to hang on just a bit longer.
But with 36.3 seconds left, the C-NS net empty and a sixth attacker in place, a scrum developed in front of B’ville goalie Matt Sabourin, who finished with 24 saves. Somehow, Doren got a hold of the puck and poked it past the pile of players and just over the goal line.
That made it 2-2, and the Northstars, flush with all of the momentum, didn’t wait long in OT to end it. Just 44 seconds into the extra frame, Matt Siegel sprung Sutter Donegan for a solo breakaway, and Donegan beat Sabourin up high for the game-winner.
Now that this was done, Lloyd said he was glad to get past the big hype that surrounded this event and turn toward the regular season, which the Bees resume Dec. 2 against Liverpool after a scrimmage next Wednesday against Whiteboro.
