Deep into the night went Syracuse and West Genesee’s hockey teams, covering miles of territory on the ice of the Onondaga County War Memorial with a Section III Division I championship unsettled.
Only in the fourth overtime did it finally end – and fittingly, it was the division’s Player of the Year that did the honor.
Ryan Eccles scored two minutes, 12 seconds into that fourth extra period, which gave the Cougars a 3-2 victory over the Wildcats and a second consecutive sectional title.
“This was the greatest game I ever played in,” said Eccles. “Everyone is exhausted, but It’s an unreal feeling.”
In terms of tension and drama, in no way did this resemble Syracuse’s 4-2 win over Baldwinsville a year ago in the sectional title game, and it was far more difficult than the Cougars’ 6-3 win over WG in mid-January at Meachem Rink.
“They (the Wildcats) came in with a game plan, and it obviously worked,” said Eccles.
Syracuse coach Neal Purcell agreed, saying that WG didn’t try to alter too much from their first meeting, but “they competed hard and made us earn everything.”
And the Wildcats didn’t deviate from those plans when Eccles scored on a power play just 2:46 into the game. WG absorbed 11 Syracuse shots in those early minutes, yet kept it 1-0, and then tied it on its own man advantage late in the period, Jack Miller converting a wrist shot off a feed from Ryan Washo.
Now with some momentum, the Wildcats grabbed a 2-1 advantage early in the second period, Washo stepping in front of the net and, taking a pass from the right boards by Jack Anderson, one-timing it past Syracuse goaltender Alex Moreno.
With that lead, though, WG eased back on its attack, and Syracuse swarmed them for the rest of the period, pulling even when Steve Matro converted on a wrist shot from the point, assisted by Nate Frye and Andrew Corning.
Now it was 2-2, and it would stay that way for a long while. the game turning into a showcase for Wildcats goalie Chris Wells, especially after Syracuse killed off three different WG power plays during the third period.
All through that period and 24-plus minutes of overtime, Syracuse tried to move out in front, and Wells wouldn’t let them, running his total to 52 saves in a career-defining performance.
“He (Wells) was unbelievable and really played well,” said Purcell.
Three OT periods went without a resolution, and only one more was left before it would go to a shoot-out, just like the 2018 sectional semifinal that WG, then undefeated and no. 1 in the state rankings, lost to Baldwinsville.
Here, given the way Wells was turning everything back, the Wildcats may have welcomed a shootout, but Eccles said he and his fellow Cougars were in no mood to have it drag out longer.
“We had worked way too hard for this not to go our way,” he said.
So at the two-minute mark of the final OT period, Eccles again made his way up the ice, finding his way beyond the right circle with the puck. From an odd angle, he fired a wrist shot that somehow made it past Wells’ pads and into the net.
“It was just one of those hockey bounces you get when you work hard,’ said Eccles.
Moments later, Eccles was celebrating with his Syracuse teammates, helmets, sticks and gloves flung onto the ice, while the Wildcats, a few feet away, had to watch it all.
Now Syracuse returns to the state tournament, where a year ago it lost 3-1 to Niagara-Wheatfield in the regional finals. Now it will host that regional game against the Section V champions Saturday night, with a berth in the March 9-10 state “Frozen Four” at Buffalo’s HarborCenter on the line.
