From 2008 until Tuesday night, the West Genesee ice hockey team had not lost a single game in the Section III playoffs – a streak that reached 22 consecutive victories, more than the length of a full regular season.
True, there were close calls from time to time, but in each case the Wildcats emerged with more goals and, as a result, brought home seven consecutive sectional championships.
Inevitably, though, someone was going to end the string – and it turned out to be Baldwinsville, who blanked WG 5-0 in last Tuesday night’s Division I semifinal at Lysander.
“They (B’ville) were the better team,” said Wildcats head coach Frank Colabufo. “We were never able to get control of the game, and they worked hard and played with a lot of emotion.”
In their lone regular-season meeting Jan. 9 at Shove Park, B’ville and WG had played to a 2-2 tie, a week before Derek Farrell returned to the lineup, adding spark to the Wildcats’ attack.
That gave WG plenty of reason to think it would do well in the playoff rematch. But one big factor was in B’ville’s favor – home ice at Lysander. Not once in the seven-year sectional title run had the Wildcats needed to win a true road game.
Now it had to pull off that feat, and do so in front of a large, loud B’ville crowd that would give energy to the home side, start to finish.
“The crowd support we had was incredible,” said Bees head coach MarkLloyd. “No question, it helped to be on home ice. We felt very comfortable here.”
Just 3:57 into the game, B’ville’s 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 first period, Joe Glamos got open near the point and sent one past WG goalie Nick Skidmore, with Isaiah Pomo and Ryan Gebhardt earning the assists.
The Wildcats almost cut it to 2-1 early in the second period, seeing Ryan McDonald twice put shots past 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. Skidmore finished with 25 saves.
Adam Tretowicz tacked on a goal 1:52 into the third period, Abbott and Glamos earning the assists, and the Wildcats’ frustrations spilled over into late-game penalties that only ensured that the Bees were moving ahead.
WG, meanwhile, still had a lot to be proud of during its 12-7-3 campiagn. With just four seniors on the roster, and without Farrell for much of the regular season, it still put itself in title contention.
“The kids got further down the road than a lot of people thought they would,” said Colabufo. “I couldn’t be prouder of them.”
And, of course, there was the matter of those 22 straight sectional playoff wins, a mark no local hockey team might ever match again, which Colabufo said was a tribute to the work put in by players through the years to maintain a winning tradition that shows no signs of abating anytime soon.
