In many different ways, the Baldwinsville ice hockey team got just what it wanted from Wednesday night’s Section III Division I semifinal against Syracuse at Meachem Rink from a favorable tempo to a goaltending gem from Alex Rose.
It even went to overtime, just as the 2016 sectional semifinal did on this same ice – but instead of Garrett Gray winning it, the Bees fell, 3-2, to the Cougars when Andrew Hodgens, parked in front of the net, rebounded Sean Eccles’ long shot home less than 90 seconds into the extra period.
B’ville had given state no. 3-ranked Syracuse its lone defeat of the season Dec. 3 in the finals of the Bobby Conklin Memorial Touranment, a 4-3 game decided in the final seconds. The Cougars got even for that loss by prevailing 4-1 less than three weeks later.
Now, though, their meeting was far more important, with a berth in the sectional final against defending champion West Genesee at the Onondaga County War Memorial at stake. It would come down to whether the Bees’ top-notch defense could contain Syracuse’s deep, diverse attack for 45 minutes – or beyond.
During a scoreless first period, that task was accomplished as B’ville trapped the Cougars wherever it could. When that didn’t work, Rose made plenty of stops and preferred to glove the puck and force a face-off rather than risk a rebound.
Then, 4:42 into the second period, Zach Perez took a pass from Parker Schroeder and, zooming up the left side of the ice, waited until he was at the doorstep before flinging a backhanded wrist shot past Cougars goalie Jake Polacek into the top right corner of the net.
Given that 1-0 lead, the Bees withstood an all-out Syracuse attack for the rest of the period, Rose stopping everything he faced during this portion and making B’ville fans believe another semifinal win on hostile ice was possible.
But in a harbinger of what was to follow, Bryan O’Mara tied it, 1-1, with 9:38 left in the third period off a rebound of a shot Rose couldn’t gather in. Again, B’ville didn’t panic, waiting for a counter-attack – which it got when Chris Speelman flew up the middle, alone, on Polacek barely three minutes after O’Mara’s equalizer.
Speelman got tripped up in the rush, leading to a penalty shot. Skating in slowly, Speelman drew out Polacek from his crease and then, at the right moment, wristed the puck past him into the net, and B’ville led, 2-1, with 6:16 left.
That Bees lead lasted less than two minutes. Resuming its attack, Syracuse again saw a long shot, this tone from Matt Eccles, fly loose from Rose’s grasp, allowing O’Mara to convert a second tying goal in this period.
It stayed 2-2 until overtime. Quickly, B’ville found itself unable to clear the puck out of its own end, and it swung to Eccles, whose hard shot was stopped by Rose, his 36th save of the night. Again, though, the puck slipped in front of Rose right to Hodgens, who put in the game-winner.
