While the Baldwinsville ice hockey team put together a 13-5-1 record and got home-ice advantage for the opening round of the Section III Division I playoffs, it wasn’t the ideal scenario.
Since it finished second in the Division I National Conference, the Bees, if it defeats Rome Free Academy in this Friday’s opening round at Lysander Arena, will have a likely semifinal against undefeated, state no. 1-ranked West Genesee at Shove Park.
All of this was avoidable, had B’ville prevailed in Monday night’s showdown with Syracuse at Meachem Rink, but once again the Bees’ attack went cold and it lost, 4-1, to the Cougars.
These teams had first met in early December at Lysander Arena in the Bobby Conklin Memorial Tournament, tying 1-1. Syracuse went on to win in a shootout, but it counted as a tie in the league standings.
Two months later, both the Cougars and Bees both had 21 points atop the Division I National Conference, making the rematch at Meacham winner-take-all for the league title.
On a power play midway through the first period, Syracuse’s Nate Frye capped a series of sharp passes and, standing near the net, put the Cougars in front, only to have B’ville pull even on its own power play as Alex Schmidt converted off a feed from Mark Monaco.
Then, just after the Bees had killed off another Cougars man advantage, Syracuse’s Sean Eccles took the puck deep in his own end and started up the ice. He tore past all of the B’ville defenders and, from the left point, fired a hard shot past B”ville goalie Jeremy Rappard.
Though that goal came with 2:03 left in the first period, it proved a blow from which the Bees could not fully recover.Twice in the second period, Syracuse applied pressure and, when Rappard was unable to hold on to the puck, Philip Zollo swooped in and converted the rebounds.
Having expanded its lead, the Cougars’ defense protected it well during the third period, rarely letting pucks get to goaltender Jack Klawitter, who still managed to make key stops whenever B’ville tried to inch closer. Overall, Klawitter made 27 saves.
Originally, this game was to take place on Feb. 7, but it got snowed out. When the weather did clear up for last Friday’s home game against Ithaca at Lysander Arena, B’ville hoped for a successful Senior Night but, instead, took a tough 1-0 defeat to the Little Red.
Prior to that, the Bees had won five in a row, outscoring those five opponents by a combined 22-4 margin. Yet its offense could not respond and get a shot past Ithaca goalie William Gephart after the Little Red got the only goal in the first period.
From a future standpoint, the only thing that did stand out was B’ville’s defense, a consistent force all season. Taking turns in goal, Rappard and Josh Smith combined for 25 saves.
