For three weeks, the Baldwinsville ice hockey team has stayed home, and when it didn’t work on its game during its practice sessions, it offered unwelcome greetings to four different opponents, beating them all. At the end of this particularly successful homestand, the Bees welcomed Rome Free Academy to Lysander Friday night, and with a combination of strong defense and timely scoring, B’ville put together a 3-1 victory over the Black Knights. In doing so, the Bees won its fourth in a row and took over first place in the Division I National Conference, two points ahead of Liverpool, whom it beat 4-0 on Dec. 2. RFA offered yet another key test, the Black Knights having made each of the last four sectional finals, only to lose each time to West Genesee. Now, under first-year head coach Jason Nowicki (who took over for Greg Cuthbertson), RFA had split its first two games, hoping to find a spark at B’ville, but the hosts weren’t about to comply. Less than seven minutes into the first period, the Bees took a 1-0 lead on Kyle Lindsey’s goal, the only tally from either side in that opening frame. Again having to face a series of good chances, B’ville goalie Matt Sabourin, on his way to 24 saves, stopped everything – except when Jeremy Bereza, fed by Brian Birnie and Baylen Marschall, put a puck into the net 3:06 into the second period to tie it, 1-1. Staying patient, the Bees worked on its own chances until, at the 9:20 mark of the second period, Alex Paterson-Jones slipped a shot past RFA goalie Devin Hart, putting his side back in front, 2-1, where it stayed until intermission. All through the third period, the Black Knights tried to get back even, but Sabourin turned them away. Still, tense B’ville fans couldn’t exhale until, with 3:50 to play in regulation, Matt Abbott, whose three-goal hat trick subdued Syracuse 4-2 in the Dec. 6 final of the Bobby Conklin Memorial Tournament, found the net again. Matt Monaco and Charlie Bertrand each got assists, as did Lindsay and Abbott. Another week of rest awaited the Bees before going to Rome’s Kennedy Arena next Friday night to face Mohawk Valley, after which it is off until a Dec. 29 trip to Ithaca.