Nearly two months had passed since the Baldwinsville ice hockey team had first confronted West Genesee, but what was true early this season applied again in last Wednesday night’s rematch at Shove Park.
Try as it could, the Bees simply couldn’t produce enough scoring chances against the state Division I no. 6-ranked Wildcats and lost, 2-0, with WG again clinching the Division I American Conference regular-season title.
When they first met Dec. 9 at Lysander Arena, WG got past B’ville 3-1, but it took tremendous defense by the Bees to keep the game close since it only managed just 14 shots on goalie Sammy Colabufo.
Determined to turn that result around, B’ville was quick out of the gate in this second encounter, applying plenty of pressure in the opening minutes, and doing so again just as the first period ended, adding up to eight shots that Colabufo had to glove.
In between those spurts, though, WG’s vaunted possession game led to long stretches in the Bees’ end. However, none of the Wildcats’ 13 shots got past Alex Rose.
So it was still 0-0 early in the second period, but Dan Colabufo, Sammy’s younger brother, broke the deadlock in an exciting manner, taking a pass from Garrett Schnorr and breaking up the middle of the ice before flinging a backhand shot past Rose inside the top left corner of the net.
Then, when B’ville tried to pull even during a power play, the Wildcats didn’t sit back. Instead, at the 6:42 mark of the second, Ryan Washo flashed open in front of the net and, taking a pass from Jay Considine, converted a short-handed goal.
Rose would stop everything else from there and finish with 30 saves, but the fact that he had to work so hard was again a tribute to the pressure WG put on, which also helped on the other end of the rink. Schnorr, John Galimi and the rest of the Wildcats’ defense rarely gave the Bees a chance in the game’s latter stages. Sammy Colabufo needed to face just 18 shots, and stopped them all.
With its record at 12-5-1, B’ville has its Senior Night Tuesday against Mohawk Valley and closes the regular season at Watertown IHC two nights later.
