By the dozens, they streamed into the Baldwinsville ice hockey dressing room Tuesday night at Lysander, students and other supporters who were not just celebrating a return to the Section III Division I title game for the first time since 2010, but the fact that the Bees brought a dynasty down.
West Genesee’s seven-year reign as sectional champions, which included an astonishing 22 consecutive sectional tournament wins, finally was ended by B’ville in an emphatic 5-0 shutout in the Division I semifinals.
From well-timed goals of every variety to a defense that threw the Wildcats’ own successful template right back at them, the Bees richly earned a chance to win the first-ever sectional title in program history Saturday at Utica Memorial Auditorium, when B’ville faces Syracuse.
“It was a great team effort,” said Bees head coach Mark Lloyd.
There was reason to doubt that this could happen. B’ville and WG had played to a 2-2 tie on Jan. 9 at Shove Park, and since then the Wildcats had returned one of its top forwards, Derek Farrell, to the lineup, instantly adding spark to its attack.
But two other factors proved more important. B’ville had breezed through its playoff opener against Watertown IHC on Feb. 18 and had nearly a week of rest, while WG had gone to the wire to fight past Liverpool 3-2 on Feb. 21, with far less time to turn around.
More than that, though, was the location of this game. Not once in the Wildcats’ seven-year sectional title run had it needed to win a true road game, and now it was in Lysander, where the Bees had a lone defeat this winter – to Fairport on Jan. 10, just one day after the tie with the Wildcats.
“The crowd support we had was incredible,” said Lloyd. “No question, it helped to be on home ice. We felt very comfortable here.”
That comfort, and energy level, was high for the Bees from the opening face-off, and while it didn’t get many great scoring chances in the first period, it capitalized on a pair of them to grab a 2-0 lead.
Just 3:57 into the game, Charlie Bertrand took a hard shot from the left circle that fit just inside the right post, putting the Bees on the board, Matt Abbott earning the assist. Then, with 1:21 left in the period, Joe Glamos got open near the point and sent one past WG goalie Nick Skidmore, with assists going to Ryan Gebhardt and Isaiah Pompo.
The Wildcats almost cut it to 2-1 early in the second period, seeing Ryan McDonald’s shot beat Matt Sabourin, but clang off the crossbar. Then, in a 90-second sequence, the Bees all but put the game away in a strange and dramatic manner.
B’ville was just finishing an unsuccessful power play when, at the 8:31 mark of the period, Abbott sent a shot from near the red line in the corner, at a nearly impossible angle to the net – and it somehow slid past Skidmore and the goal line.
Reeling from this, WG picked up a power play, and tried to answer. Instead, Glamos picked off the puck and went in, flinging a shot home for a short-handed goal, making it 4-0.
That was far more than the Wildcats could overcome, thanks to a superb effort from B’ville’s back line. Bertrand, Gebhardt, Matt Metcalf, Ben Dwyer and Charlie McAllister all took turns stripping away the puck and protecting Sabourin, who made 20 saves, but didn’t have too many tough stops.
Lloyd said that emphasizing defense was just his team copying the formula that had made WG win so many championships, only now it was the Wildcats on the receiving end.
Adam Tretowicz tacked on a goal 1:52 into the third period, Abbott and Glamos earning the assists. At the end, the celebration on the ice was genuine, but restrained. Lloyd said that he made sure his players understood that, momentous as this win was, bigger goals still remain unfulfilled.
“This is not the end game,” said Lloyd. “There are more important games ahead.”
Still, the sight of B’ville’s students engulfing the players as they skated off the ice, and then joining them in the dressing room, proved a catharsis after years of seeing West Genesee snuff out the Bees’ championship dreams.
A night later, B’ville found out that it would face Syracuse in that sectional final in Utica after the Cougars turned back Rome Free Academy 2-0 in the other semifinal. These two sides split their regular-season meetings, with the Bees winning 4-2 Dec. 6 at Lysander and the Cougars prevailing 3-1 on Jan. 16 at Meachem Rink.
