From various injuries to lots of illnesses, the Baldwinsville ice hockey team had plenty of concern heading to the final week of the regular season no matter who it had to face.
The unfortunate part for the Bees was that, in a four-day stretch, it would have to play three games against other top Division I sides, each of them on the road.
Of those games, none hurt more than the first one, when B’ville fell 4-3 to Fayetteville-Manlius in overtime despite leading the game most of the way.
Entering the night, F-M had won seven of eight games to move up to third place in the league standings. A win here would clinch that spot for the Hornets, but the Bees would not make it easy.
Tyler Derito’s goal 5:39 into the first period put the Bees in front, and it got to 2-0 when Luke Hoskin converted on a breakaway 1:11 into the second period.
As the game wore on, F-M’s attack picked up, and it stayed patient, even when none of its first 20 shots got past Bees goalie Brad O’Neill and it remained off the board deep into the third period.
Everything changed when the Hornets’ Josh Kuchinski pushed in a rebound goal with 9:29 left. Barely three minutes later, a Bees turnover deep in its own end led to Jackson Denton tying it
Before B’ville could settle down, with 4:47 to play it was Mike Hockenberger pouring in on a breakaway and converting a wrist shot.
Suddenly down 3-2, B’ville didn’t go away, taking advantage of a power play as Hoskin tied it with 1:48 to play with his second goal of the night, leading to the five-minute OT period.
Midway through the extra frame, the Hornets’ Spencer Sasenbury found an open spot at the right circle. With a hard wrist shot, he beat O’Neill for the game-winner.
There wasn’t much time for B’ville to recover. Now it had to go to Meachem Rink Thursday and try to deny Syracuse the regular-season Division I title, but could not do so, shut out 4-0 by the Cougars.
Syracuse remembered how the Bees had topped them 3-2 in the Dec. 7 final of the Bobby Conklin Tournament and struck back here, Ryan Durand assisting on first-period goals by Ryan Durand and Stephan Matro.
Durand and Tommy Rioux added goals in the next two periods, and the Cougars’ defense smothered B’ville most of the way, limiting it to 15 shots, all stopped by Alex Moreno. Jon Schirmer, taking his turn in the net for the Bees, had 32 saves.
A lot remained at stake on Friday when B’ville visited Fulton. The Bees had to win in order to finish fourth and secure a home game against the Red Raiders in the sectional quarterfinals.
B’ville would win that game, 2-1, getting goals from Matt Carner and Braden Lynch as Brett Collier and Tyler Derito assisted on both scoring plays.
O’Neill finished with 21 saves, only surrendering a goal by Calexander Connolly as Red Raiders goalie Jadon Lee kept his team within range, earning 32 saves.
So B’ville will be back at Lysander Arena one more time this season when it faces Fulton again Thursday night at 7:30, a berth in the sectional semifinals on the line.
