Isaiah Pompo delivered one of the brightest moments in Baldwinsville ice hockey history and pushed his team to the brink of a state championship.
With his goal just 33 seconds into overtime of Saturday night’s Division I state semifinal at Utica Memorial Auditorium, Pompo pushed the Bees past Saratoga Springs 2-1 and set up Sunday’s title game against Rochester McQuaid.
When regulation ended in a 1-1 tie, B’ville had reasons to feel both discouraged and fortunate. It had squandered the best chance to break the tie in regulation when Joe Glamos was stopped on a penalty shot early in the third period.
At the same time, though, Saratoga had taken 26 shots to B’ville’s 16, getting more opportunities throughout the entire 45 minutes of regulation, only to have Matt Sabourin constantly turn away those chances.
Mere seconds after the overtime face-off, the Blue Streaks charged again toward Sabourin, with senior captain Elliott Hungerford getting the open shot, but Sabourin stopping it.
Quickly, the Bees counter-attacked, forcing a face-off in Saratoga’s end. Winning the draw, Matt Monacto pushed the puck back to Pompo at the point, and his hard shot fit inside the post and eluded Blue Streaks goaltender Danny Hobbs, sending the B’ville fans into euphoria.
The quick OT resolution released the tension that had built up through three exciting periods, with B’ville seeing its attack struggle without forward Adam Tretowicz, who injured his knee in club action with the Syracuse Stars prior to the state “Frozen Four”.
Saratoga, the Section II champions, would take 11 shots in the opening period to B’ville’s three. But most of them were low-percentage chances that Sabourin snagged.
Despite that shot disparity, the Bees led, 1-0 at intermission, thanks to an unlikely goal 6:36 into the game. Ben Dwyer, shooting from the point, saw the puck sail through players parked in front of Hobbs, so the Blue Streaks goalie never saw it until it was past him in the net.
Deep into the second period, B’ville kept that one-goal edge, but was unable to add on to it, missing on a two-on-one breakaway early in that frame and then seeing Glamos miss on a short-handed rush, too.
Saratoga stayed patient, and at the 10:09 mark of the period, J.T. Rafferty pounced on the rebound of Ian Frey’s shot and slipped it past Sabourin, creating the 1-1 tie.
Out-shot 21-7 in those first two periods, the Bees attacked hard at the start of the third period. and it led to that penalty shot. Glamos, B’ville’s most feared scorer, went in, but skated too close to the net, and Hobbs took the puck from him before Glamos could beat him up top.
To that point, the Bees had not gone on the power play, and nearly fell behind on Saratoga’s third man advantage, only to see Jake Fauler’s possible go-ahead shot careen off the post. Then the Bees finally got its own power play late in regulation, only to come up empty.
Pompo, though, would not miss his chance in the OT, and B’ville earned its first trip to a state title game in 10 years, awaiting the same McQuaid team that beat them 8-2 on Jan. 17. The Knights beat Section I champion Scarsdale 4-2 in the other state semifinal.
