SYRACUSE — Within a matter of seconds, the Syracuse Cougars ice hockey team went from anticipation over a possible victory to despair over a defeat and another season ended at the hands – and sticks – of Baldwinsville.
The Cougars’ 4-3 defeat to the Bees in Tuesday night’s Section III Division I semifinal at Meachem Rink didn’t conclude until Garrett Gray scored on a breakaway with 5:42 left in the second overtime period, mere moments after B’ville goalie Matt Sabourin made a superb glove save on Matt Eccles’ possible game-winning shot.
Three different times in the game, Syracuse trailed, and every time it came back to tie it. But it never could go in front, even with all the opportunities it had to do so late in regulation and in both OT periods against a tiring B’ville squad.
It only figured that Gray made the difference. He wasn’t in the lineup Dec. 3, when Syracuse shut out B’ville 5-0 in the opening round of the Bobby Conklin Memorial Tournament at Lysander Arena, the lone regular-season meeting between the Bees and Cougars this winter.
Nearly three months later, Gray was quite present, and B’ville could draw upon the experience of winning the sectional title a year earlier on the way to the state finals. Syracuse tried to draw on that experience, too, not wanting its season to end at the Bees’ expense like it did in the 2015 sectional final.
For much of the first period, Syracuse was on the attack, but couldn’t get anything past Bees goalie Matt Sabourin. Then, 37 seconds before intermission, Gray got open in front of the net and converted to put his team up 1-0 as Isaiah Pompo and Matt Monaco earned the assists.
This didn’t faze the Cougars, who tied it, 1-1, early in the second period on Colby Skrupa’s power-play goal, assisted by Matt Eccles and Matt Frye. But B’ville reclaimed the lead at the 11:20 mark on its own man advantage when Matt Metcalf tipped in Connor Carhart’s floating shot.
continued — All of this was prelude to a third period where the momentum continued to swing back and forth, first with the Cougars tying it a second time, 2-2, when Ryan Eccles converted with 12:55 to play.
Not even three minutes later, with the Bees again on the power play, Pompo, from the right boards, found Metcalf wide-open in front of the net, and he beat Jake Polacek to give B’ville its third lead of the night.
When the Bees earned another man advantage, Polacek, who finished with 30 saves, recovered to stop Metcalf point-blank to prevent him from a hat trick, and gradually Syracuse resumed its all-out assault on Sabourin.
Amid this attack, Gray, with 3:48 left, committed a penalty. It took the Cougars just 19 seconds to capitalize on it as Conrad Skrupa beat Sabourin and, for the third time, Syracuse had tied the game.
When regulation ended 3-3, the Cougars had all the momentum. But the Bees had Sabourin, and more than once, in the first seven-minute, 30-second OT period, he came up with crucial stops as neither side could put in the game-winner.
Then, early in the second OT, Syracuse got another opportunity to win it when Matt Eccles charged in from the right side and took a hard shot that Sabourin deflected over the net with his glove. It was his 33rd save of the night.
Seconds later, Metcalf picked up the puck along the boards and slid a long pass to the middle while most of the Cougars were still in the Bees’ end. Gray took it in mid-stride and bore in on Polacek,
Instead of faking a shot and going to either stick side, Gray just lofted a quick wrist shot past Polacek into the net to end the game – and the Cougars’ season, which finished at 18-3-1 and included a trip to the top of the state rankings early this winter.
