ONONDAGA COUNTY – If the Baldwinsville ice hockey team was to have a letdown of any sort, it was glad that it took place in the week before the start of the Section III Division I playoffs.
Nearly seeing its 14-game win streak get dashed, the state no. 8-ranked Bees ended up settling for a 2-2 tie with Syracuse last Tuesday night at Meachem Rink.
Exactly one week earlier, B’ville had held off West Genesee 5-4 to take first place in Division I. And Syracuse appeared an easier mark, especially since WG smashed the Cougars 12-4 two nights after it lost to the Bees.
Fernando Moreno assisted on goals by Trevor Sutton and Brayden Penafeather-Stevenson in the first period that helped B’ville grab a 2-1 advantage.
However, the Cougars tied it in the second on Jameson Bucktooth’s second goal of the night and then, despite plenty of Bees chances, it could not break out of that tie in a tense third period and overtime.
Jackson Suddaby, Syracuse’s goalie, turned back 35 of the Bees’ 37 shots. Jon Schirmer recorded 22 saves.
Winless Fulton just happened to be B’ville’s next opponent 24 hours later, and with a chance to unload, the Bees did so, setting a season mark for goals in a 15-1 rout of the Red Raiders.
Taking 60 shots overall, B’ville saw many of them go in, including three from Nick Cary as his hat trick was backed up by a pair of assists and Tyler Machalek scored twice.
In all, 12 different players found the net. Jamie Gipe, Harrison Bragg and Kaleb DeLuca each had a goal and two assists, while Leo Vona and Conner Bourque both had one goal and one assist.
Not to be left out, Penafeather-Stevenson, Mitch Burlingame and Brian Yager took their turns finding the net, with Moreno, Keegan Lynch, Zach Treichler and Jake Gipe also earning assists.
On Saturday afternoon, B’ville closed the regular season on home ice against Ithaca, and though it was close for quite a while, the Bees , with a pair of goals in the third period, were able to pull away to beat the Little Red 4-1 and improve to 17-1-1 overall.
Penfeather-Stevenson converted twice, with single goals going to Nolan Burlingame and Trevor Sutton. Garett Sutton got a pair of assists as Moreno, Jamie Gipe and Keegan Lynch had one assist apiece. Schirmer stopped 21 of the 22 shots he faced.
Indeed, B’ville did draw the top sectional Division I playoff seed in an 11-team field where WG had the no. 2 seed, Syracuse the no. 3 seed and the next two seeds went to Cicero-North Syracuse and Rome Free Academy.
Three first-round games take place Tuesday as Fayetteville-Manlius meets Liverpool, Cazenovia takes on Mohawk Valley and Watertown IHC meets Ontario Bay. The lowest-remaining seed gets B’ville in the quarterfinals later this week in Lysander.
