Lysander — This is something new for the Baldwinsville ice hockey team – the role of defending Section III Division I champion.
And the Bees still savored what it accomplished in 2014-15, from putting an end to West Genesee’s seven-year reign atop the section to routing Syracuse in the sectional final to a regional victory over Ithaca and state semifinal overtime win over Saratoga Springs before Rochester McQuaid stopped them in the title game at Utica Memorial Auditorium.
All of that is in the past now, and B’ville now goes into a new campaign missing standouts like Charlie McAllister, Matt Abbott and James Pelcher, but with plenty of talent still on hand to try and defend the league and sectional titles it worked so hard to achieve a winter ago.
Immediately, the tests would come, starting last Tuesday with a battle against Liverpool, with whom it shares the Greater B’ville Ice Arena home facility. And they would go back and forth all game, with the Bees saved in more ways than one by Matt Sabourin’s work in goal during a 4-3 win over the Warriors.
The two sides traded goals through each of the first two periods. It was 1-1 after one and 3-3 after two frames, with Tom Bianchi, Bobby Welch and Anthony Terranova finding the net for the Warriors as Kyle Terzini, Jeff Gentile and Carson Ferguson joined Bianchi in the assist column.
During the third period, B’ville edged out in front, and Sabourin made sure Liverpool didn’t pull back even again. Though the Warriors took more shots on this night, Sabourin was ready for it, halting 31 of 34 attempts.
B’ville’s attack was quite balanced, too. Four different players – Matt Metcalf, Brett Sabourin, Zack Perez and Josh Racha – earned those four goals, while stalwart veterans Charlie Bertrand, Connor Carhart and Carson Hayes joined Perez and Racha in the assist column.
continued — From there, the Bees moved on to the annual Bobby Conklin Memorial Tournament, which got underway Friday with a rematch of the sectional final against Syracuse, who had started its season by routing Ithaca 8-3 earlier in the week.
Remembering what happened in Utica, the Cougars jumped all over B’ville and prevailed, 5-0, taking twice as many shots as the hosts and finding the net twice in each of the next two periods while not letting any of the Bees’ 18 shots get past Syracuse goaltender Jake Polacek.
For his part, Sabourin had 31 saves, but could not hold up against a well-balanced Cougars attack where five different players – Matt Eccles, Ryan Evanchak, Bryan O’Mara, Casey Rodgers and Philip Zollo – had the five goals, with Eccles and Colby Skrupa adding two assists apiece.
Forced into Saturday’s consolation game against Fulton, B’ville recovered to beat the Red Raiders 7-3. Steadily, the Bees took control, gaining a 5-2 edge by the end of the second period and seeing Garrett Gray break out with a three-goal hat trick, plus a pair of assists.
Isaiah Pompo had a goal and two assists, with Ryan Gebhardt also getting two assists. Bertrand, Racha and Shane Sweeney joined Pompo with single tallies, with Perez gaining an assist. Between them, Sabourin and Matt Rose earned 25 saves. Syracuse defeated Cazenovia 5-3 to claim the Conklin Tournament championship.
As if all of that wasn’t enough, the Bees, on Friday night, will go to Shove Park to face West Genesee, who has waited since February to get at B’ville again and try to avenge that 5-0 defeat at Lysander that brought a conclusion to the Wildcats’ long stint at the top.