Camillus — For a full week after reclaiming the Section III Division I championship on Feb. 28 in a tense 1-0 thriller over Baldwinsville, the West Genesee ice hockey team had to try and lower expectations.
Since the Wildcats were hosting Ithaca in last Saturday night’s Division I regional final at Shove Park, and since it had routed the Little Red 6-0 early in December, outsiders automatically assumed the same would happen here.
Yet head coach Frank Colabufo cautioned against overconfidence, saying that Ithaca, with an automatic state tournament berth since it faced no competition in Section IV, had prepared an entire season for this single game and would be ready for it.
Indeed, the Little Red was ready – and it didn’t matter one bit.
WG got big early production from the brother trio of Matt, Pat and Ryan McDonald and, with that in place, cruised to a 6-2 victory over Ithaca and secured its trip to Buffalo for the state “Frozen Four”.
Attacking from the opening face-off, WG needed less than two minutes to get on the board, thanks to Matt McDonald, whose trademark wrist shot found the net, and that was just the appetizer.
Pat McDonald added to the fun for Wildcat fans when he scored at the 8:13 mark of the period to make it 2-0 and, just 73 seconds later, returned to convert again, extending WG’s margin to three.
And just to make sure he didn’t get left out, Ryan McDonald chimed in with a goal in the final minute of the period, so at the first intermission WG was up 4-0 and fans were already thinking about state championship weekend.
Things quieted down in the second period for a while, but at the 9:06 mark Pat McDonald made it 5-0, completing his hat trick, before Ithaca got on the board with a breakaway goal a few minutes later – the first WG has allowed in the entire post-season.
continued — Barely a minute into the third period, Ryan McDonald converted, continuing his family’s big night, and though Ithaca would convert again late in regulation, the outcome had long been settled, and WG had one more weekend of hockey left.
This year, the state “Frozen Four” moves from its long-time home at Utica Memorial Auditorium to the new HarborCenter complex in Buffalo, located next door to the NHL Sabres’ arena at First Niagara Center.
In Saturday’s state semifinal at noon, West Genesee faces Section II champion Saratoga Springs. The winner moves on to Sunday’s championship game, also at noon, against Mamaroneck (Section I) or Pittsford (Section V).
