LYSANDER – Wherever it would land in the Section III Division I bracket, the Baldwinsville ice hockey team would do so knowing it is capable of making a championship run.
The Bees proved that point in Tuesday night’s tense, exciting 5-4 victory over first-place Syracuse at Three Rivers Athletic Complex, decided by Sam Ciappa’s power-play goal with one minute left in regulation.
Both teams entered the game with identical 13-1-1 records, but the Cougars led Division I with a 9-0 league mark due to its 6-5 win over West Genesee, the same side that handed B’ville its lone defeat on Nov. 30.
Riding a 14-game unbeaten streak, the Bees skated fast and hard right from the opening face-off against Syracuse, providing plenty of physical play, too, as the two sides battled through a scoreless first period.
Ciappa would change that equation 1:48 into the second period with his first goal of the night, and Reese Gilmore converted 46 seconds later to make it 2-0.
Syracuse absorbed this and, late in the period, battled back, Mike Madigan converting on a rebound and Jameson Bucktooth converting off an odd angle on the power play to tie it, 2-2, only to have Gilmore answer 38 seconds later.
Up 3-2 going to the third period, B’ville saw Syracuse once more pull even with Colin Johnson’s shot from the right point, and once more go back in front as Matt Carner converted on the power play 66 seconds later.
A possible fifth goal by Cole Schuyler was disallowed for a hand pass, and the Cougars took full advantage, Owen Mahar finding the net with 8:21 left as, for the third time, Syracuse rallied to tie it, 4-4.
They were still that way when Syracuse was called for a penalty with 2:20 left. Barely a minute later, Keegan Lynch passed it to Ciappa who, from the left circle, sent a wrist shot into the net.
Still with time, the Cougars pulled goalie Connor Rose and applied pressure in the final seconds, but the Bees’ defense turned Syracuse away and celebrated one of its most important wins of the season.
Ciappa assisted on all three goals he did not convert as Carner, Gilmore, Brayden Penafeather-Stevenson, Leonardo Vona and Garrett Church all got single assists. Splitting time in goal, Patrick Morgan and Nate Sotherden made 26 saves between them.
B’ville did not have any sort of letdown, either, going to the Rochester area on Thursday night and earning its seventh shutout of the season when it blanked Section V’s Fairport 5-0.
Racing to a 4-0 advantage through two periods, the Bees saw Ciappa add two more goals to his total, with Schuyler also converting twice and Penafeather-Stevenson earning the other goal.
Brody Clookey picked up two assists as single assists went to Lynch, Gilmore, Matt Fawwaz and Harrison Bragg. Jon Schirmer, back in goal, turned back all 16 of Fairport’s shots.
When Syracuse lost again 4-1 to Cazenovia on Friday, the Lakers leapfrogged the Cougars into third place in Division I, holding the head-to-head tiebreaker though both teams finished 9-2 in league play.
B’ville, 10-1 in the league, equaled West Genesee, but the Wildcats’ early-season triumph meant it had snared the top playoff seed and the Bees would own the no. 2 seed, with a chance to play twice more at home if it won its quarterfinal later this week.
Before that, though, B’ville had two more games, playing one of them Saturday and defeating Ithaca 6-3 and then, next Tuesday, battling state Division II no. 2-ranked Sknaeateles before the sectional quarterfinals later in the week.
