Just as it had done before this season, the Baldwinsville ice hockey team pulled out a close one with a late scoring surge.
This time, it occurred in last Tuesday’s game at Ithaca, where the Bees trailed going to the third period, but proceeded to get even and push it to overtime, where it the game-winner to defeat the Little Red 4-3.
A pair of early goals, one of them by Zach Perez, had B’ville in front 2-0, but it didn’t last. Ithaca pulled even, 2-2, by the early part of the second period, and then moved out in front later in that period.
Still down 3-2 going to the third period, B’ville stayed patient, and tied it on Ryan Gebhardt’s power-play goal. It stayed 3-3 until the overtime period, when B’ville netted the game-winner, the third time this season it won a game either in the last minute of regulation or in OT.
Gebhardt finished with two goals as Josh Racha joined Perez with single tallies. Connor Carhart earned two assists, with single assists going to Ben Dwyer, Anthony Pompo and Shane Sweeney. Josh Smith, working in goal, recorded 18 saves.
Back at Lysander Arena Friday night, B’ville hosted Fayetteville-Manlius, looking to win without the late tension it had felt so much this winter. And that’s exactly what happened, as a slow start dissipated and the Bees went on to a 6-0 shutout of the Hornets.
Late in the first period, it was still 0-0, and B’ville was lucky to have that situation as F-M was unable to go out in front despite several good opportunities. But in those last minutes of the opening period, the Bees found the net three times to take charge. It was 5-0 through two periods, and B’ville would preserve the shutout behind 16 saves from Alex Rose.
Offensively, Perez, with two goals and one assist, led the push as Sweeney and Tanner McCaffrey each had one goal and one assist. Parker Schroeder and Ryan Muscatello had the other goals as Gebhardt and Carhart got two assists apiece.
These wins pushed B’ville’s overall record to 8-3, which it takes into Tuesday’s game at Kennedy Arena against Rome Free Academy before a weekend tournament in Rochester where it would meet McQuaid in the first round and play again on Saturday.
