When all the hoopla subsided, the same truth held now as it did 11 months ago – namely, that West Genesee still sits on top of area Division I ice hockey, and Syracuse remains just a step or two behind them.
In the season’s most anticipated game, the Wildcats defeated the Cougars 3-2 Saturday night at Shove Park, gradually asserting control by the third period and getting the game-winning goal from Ryan Washo.
“We kept our heads up and stuck together as a team,” said WG senior captain Patrick McDonald, who scored the night’s first goal. “Our spirit was high and we played our hardest.”
Wildcats head coach Frank Colabufo attributed the victory to the way his team’s defense played, saying that the way they contained Syracuse’s top two scoring threats, Bryan O’Mara and Ryan Eccles, energized the rest of the team.
Of course, everyone had energy on this night. Nearly a year had passed since these neighbors had faced each other, WG prevailing 2-1over Syracuse in overtime in the 2017 Section III title game at the War Memorial.
Going into this encounter, the Wildcats rode a 14-0 record and no. 2 state ranking. Syracuse, at 11-1-1 and sporting a 10-game win streak, had risen to no. 12 in that same state poll.
Those facts, combined with a two-week delay after the original Jan. 12 game was snowed out, created a frenzied atmosphere at Shove Park, with big, loud student sections filling the bleachers more than a half-hour before face-off and the crowd at least two-deep around the boards.
They saw an evenly played first period, with Syracuse getting the early chances, but unable to get in front. Instead, at the 7:58 mark, McDonald gave the Wildcats a 1-0 lead, converting from the left circle after Cougars goalie Jack Klawitter had turned away two shots by Dan Holzhauer.
A furious Syracuse push at the end of the period and carried over as, just 33 seconds into the second period, Philip Zollo tied it, 1-1, picking up the rebound after WG goalie Aidan Procopio couldn’t hold on to Eccles’ original shot.
Less than two minutes later, WG led again thanks to Dan Colabufo’s power-play goal, assisted by McDonald and Ryan Smith. Colabufo, the team’s leading goal-scorer, was playing with mononucleosis, which had kept him out of action earlier in the week.
Again, the Cougars pulled even, 2-2, when Andrew Corning forced home a power-play goal, but as the second period ended the Wildcats picked up its pressure, sensing that Syracuse was starting to wear down.
And that would continue in the third period. Whenever O’Mara or Eccles had the puck, a variety of WG defenders, including Smith, John Bergan, John Galimi, Mike McGuigan and Jack Miller, took it away, setting up an attack that continually left the Cougars defending its own net.
With 9:45 left, Washo took a pass from Billy Fisher, who had missed a point-blank chance a minute earlier, and from the point struck a fluttering shot that eluded Klawitter and found the net.
Trailing for a third time, Syracuse was unable to sustain an attack until pulling Klawitter with 1:25 left, but once more the Wildcats turned them back, and could celebrate one of its most important wins of the season.
McDonald, for one, said he expected to face the Cougars again, perhaps in the sectional final in a month’s time.
“Beating Syracuse is great,” said McDonald. “But it’s going to get harder from here on out.”
