Nothing for the West Genesee ice hockey team is easy, at least when it comes to earning victories against its long-time antagonists from Baldwinsville.
So it was again when the two sides gathered Friday night at Lysander Arena, meeting for the first time since the Wildcats survived a 1-0 battle with the Bees in last winter’s Section III Division I final at Utica Memorial Auditorium.
Here, it didn’t get decided by a single goal, though the margin was slim until the waning seconds, when the Wildcats’ game-long pressure finally paid off in a 3-1 victory.
Each side had won a tournament on home ice the weekend before -WG rolling past Massena and Suffern in the Wildcat Classic, B’ville claiming the Bobby Conklin Memorial Tournament when a goal in the final seconds of regulation produced a 4-3 win over the Syracuse Cougars.
Now, in the first of two regular-season meetings (they’ll play again Feb. 1 at Shove Park), WG controlled the flow of play for much of the first period, putting together a series of attacks and taking 15 shots at B’ville goaltender Alex Rose.
But Rose stopped 14 of those shots, only bending when, on a Wildcats power play, Dan Colabufo found the net just past the midway point of the period.
So that left it at 1-0 going into the second period, when B’ville’s attack started to stir, enough that it forced the Wildcats into mistakes, including a four-minute major penalty for checking on the boards.
Two minutes into that power play, Connor Carhart took a rebound of Josh Racha’s shot and put it into the left side of the net, tying the game and leading to a series of penalties on both ends that covered the remaining part of the period.
Showing again its ability to strike when a man down, WG reclaimed the lead with 1:59 left in the second period when Ryan Washo scored while falling to the ice just as a Wildcats penalty ended.
That proved the game-winner, as WG spent most of the third period mirroring its first-period efforts in terms of possession time, rarely letting B’ville attack. And that remained true until the final minute, when Rose finally got pulled and, in a race tot he net, Pat McDonald put home the empty-net clincher with 15.8 seconds left.
Before all this, the Wildcats tuned up against Mohawk Valley last Wednesday night, again starting a bit slow, but soon finding its dominant rhythm and reaching double digits in a 10-1 romp over the Raiders.
Henry Froass scored in the first period to get Mohawk Valley on the board. Thus, WG only led 2-1 going to the second period, but four unanswered goals in that frame took out all suspense, and four more goals would follow in the final period.
Washo, with two goals and two assists, led a well-balanced attack as Jay Considine and Jimmy Zola also found the net twice. McDonald and Dan Colabufo each had a goal and three assists, with Marshall Winn adding a goal and two assists. Timmy Winn had the other goal as Jack Miller, John Bergan, Joel Artini, John Galimi and Jacob Kopek picked up single assists.
Still mad at how the Conklin Tournament final against B’ville slipped away, the Syracuse Cougars made up for it in a big way during last Thursday’s home opener at Meachem Rink, where it blew out Rome Free Academy 11-0.
Before the first period had ended, Syracuse had a 5-0 lead on the Black Knights, and repeated that five-goal outburst in the third period after it only scored once in the second frame, a lull amid the barrage of goals.
Just as in its 10-0 romp over Cazenovia six days earlier, the production got spread around. Matt Eccles, Philip Zollo and Ryan Durand earned two goals apiece, with Nate Frye getting a goal and three assists and Bryan O’Mara also getting three assists.
Andrew Corning wasn’t far behind this group, notching a goal and contributing a pair of assists. Ryan Eccles got one goal and one assist, helped by Hugh White and Matt Goddard, with one goal apiece. C.J. Walsh and Emmett Barry earned single assists.
Syracuse takes two road trips next week, going to the Fairgrounds to face Watertown IHC Tuesday before playing Fayetteville-Manlius Friday at Cicero Twin Rinks in advance of the Dec. 20 rematch with B’ville, this time on home ice at Meachem.
As for West Genesee, it gets to go back to Lysander on Wednesday night, but this time to face Liverpool in advance of a big game Saturday against Section V power Pittsford.
