By E.Jay Zarett
The West Genesee boys’ hockey team rallied to force overtime against Section VI champion Williamsville North on Saturday night.
After trailing for most of the game, the Wildcats scored two goals in the final three minutes of regulation to force an extra period. But, three minutes and 30 seconds into overtime, Griffin Green buried a power play goal to give Williamsville North a 3-2 victory in the New York State Quarterfinal match-up at Shove Park.
“Sadly, this season is over for (our team) and they don’t get to come back to the rink on Monday,” WG head coach Frank Colabufo said. “But, by no means does that goal or this game define us.”
The Wildcats fell behind late in the opening period and never took a lead. Thirteen minutes into play, Andrew Bruno poked a loose puck into the back of the net to give Williamsville North a 1-0 advantage. Less than two minutes later, Green picked-up a rebound and converted on a wrist shot, increasing his team’s lead to two.
“We talked to the kids and told them to ‘keep battling, keep fighting and see if we could make a game of it.’” Colabufo said about WG’s early deficit. “The kids stayed with it and kept fighting.”
WG started the second period aggressively attacking the goal, launching four shots on net in the first 56 seconds. But, Spartans goalie Jake Zurat was up to the challenge, stopping all four Warrior attempts.
“[Zurat]’s been our backbone all year,” Williamsville North head coach Bob Rosen said. “He’s an extremely competitive kid and he demonstrated that. He’s a big reason why we are where we are.”
The score remained at 2-0 over the next 26 minutes and WG’s chances of overcoming its deficit appeared bleak. But, with 3:15 to go, Jay Considine snuck a shot past Zurat. Two minutes later, freshman Daniel Colabufo buried a wrist shot from the goal line into the net’s left corner, forcing overtime.
“These kids have been in so many of these postseason overtime games,” Frank Colabufo said. “They kind of expected that we were going to battle and find a way to overtime and hopefully get a bounce.”
But, the Wildcats didn’t get that bounce. WG’s Garrett Schnorr had a good opportunity early in the extra session, but, Zurat made a nice save, ending the threat. Two minutes later WG was called for a penalty, setting up Green’s game winner.
“Nothing bigger in life than an overtime goal,” Rosen said. “We’ve had back-to-back overtime winners and I know that West Genesee was in one last week and won in overtime. It was an exciting, great game. It’s a shame someone had to lose.”
West Genesee, who captured its ninth Section III Division I Championship in the last 10 years with an overtime victory over the Syracuse Cougars last Saturday, finishes the season 21-3. Williamsville North advances to face Mamaroneck next Saturday in the state semifinals.
