ONONDAGA COUNTY – No week of the regular season would mean more to the Baldwinsville ice hockey team than what it faced in back-to-back games last week against the Division I front-runners.
First of all, there was West Genesee, with every Bees player remembering how, in the 2023 sectional final at the War Memorial, it nearly upended the Wildcats, only to fall 2-1 and then see WG go on to win its third state title in program history.
Now they met again Tuesday night at Shove Park, again it was 2-1 – and again, it went against B’ville, which demonstrated to the Bees that, while again it was close to the top, it wasn’t quite there.
As what tends to happen in these games, physical play and strong defense marked the night. In particular, the Bees got a great performance from Nate Sotherden, who would finish with 33 saves.
More than half the game passed without a goal. Then, late in the second, WG got a power play and, on it, eighth-grader Nate Schneid sent a high shot past Sotherden’s shoulder into the net.
It remained 1-0 until, near the midway mark of the third period, the Bees tied it gaining a five-on-three power play from which Mitch Burlingame converted. But Jesse Desena answered for WG and, with goalie Luke Beck stopping 26 of 28 shots, the Wildcats held on.
Back home at Lysander, B’ville’s next task involved trying to topple Rome Free Academy, who sported a 10-1 record and no. 9 state Division I ranking, but once again the Bees were turned back, falling to the Black Knights 4-2.
Trailing 1-0 through one period, B’ville struck twice in the second, with Brody Clookey and Michael Gregoire each converting and assists going to Rylan MacCollum and Trevor Sutton.
A tense third period followed, the Bees trying, but unable to get even as RFA’s Donte Sparace piled up 31 saves and the Black Knights eventually sealed it with an empty-net goal. Sotherden finished with 27 saves.
All this followed the Jan. 5 and 6 Duke Schneider Memorial Tournament, which began with B’ville pulling out a 3-2 victory over Section VI’s Williamsville East, displaying its staying power along the way.
An early 1-0 advantage went away, but after Williamsville East tied it, the Bees converted twice in the final period to pull it out and got a tremendous performance from Sotherden, who stopped 31 of the 33 shots he faced.
Clookey, Brady Garcia and Casey Gilbert put in B’ville’s goals, with assists credited to Gregoire and Conner Bourque.
Then, in the featured game, the state’s top two-ranked Division II teams met in a rematch of the 2023 state final, but here Pelham came out on top, beating host Skaneateles in another 3-2 decision.
Due to weather concerns, instead of a final and consolation game the two local teams, B’ville and Skaneateles, would face one another, and the Bees would take a 4-1 defeat to the Lakers.
Not until the third period did B’ville get on the board with Dan Hinman’s goal assisted by Sutton, by which point Skaneateles had already built a 3-0 advantage and overcame 28 saves from Nate Bice. Sean Kerwick (two assists) and Andrew Gaglione (one goal, one assist) led a balanced Lakers attack as Luke Mizro, Jack Marquardt and Casey Morrissey had the other goals.
If the weather holds, B’ville will play four times in five days next week, hosting Watertown IHC at the outset and Section V’s Fairport at the end, with trips to Colgate University to play Cazenovia and to Vestal to face Broome County in between.
