CENTRAL NEW YORK – In the course of seven days, the Baldwinsville ice hockey team offered legitimate challenges to both of last year’s state champions, West Genesee and Skaneateles, along with a battle against a Rome Free Academy side with just one defeat.
The Bees lost all of them, but the games were close, and perhaps with this mentality B’ville carried some confidence that a winning form would resume last Tuesday night against visiting Watertown IHC.
Instead, the Cavaliers, one of the season’s genuine surprises with a 6-3-1 record, proved it wasn’t a fluke by defeating the Bees in a tight 5-4 decision decided by strong goaltending from IHC’s Brodie MacGregor.
B’ville took 40 shots, more than double the Cavaliers’ total of 17, but MacGregor was effective stopping them while seeing Aidan Trimper get two goals and one assist, with single tallies going to Tanner Esposito, Owen O’Donnell and Colin Whitmore.
Ari Fusco, Conner Bourque, Rylan MacCollum and Tyler Machalek all found the net for the Bees, with assists to Cam Chavis, Dom Derito, Nolan Burlingame, Miles Hughes and Dan Hinman.
With a chance to turn this around a night later when it faced Cazenovia at Colgate University, B’ville paid for a slow start and, despite a furious rally, lost again by a single goal, 4-3.
Little went right for the Bees early, and the Lakers took full advantage, bolting to a 3-0 advantage thanks to goals by Henry Miller, Jack Donlin and Dylan George.
Despite 12 shots in that opening frame, B’ville could not put one past Ezra Stahlberg, and that held true in the second period, too, with Stahlberg recording five more saves and Donlin finding the net again for his 18th goal of the season.
Staring at a 4-0 deficit, B’ville broke through early in the third, tacked on another goal and then moved within one in the closing seconds, only to see its comeback fall short. Bourque, Machalek and Michael Gregoire took part in the scoring, with Zach Bice and Chase Brooks combining for 28 saves.
These twin defeats dropped the Bees’ record to 5-8, which made last Friday’s game against Broome County (Section IV) in Vestal all the more important to regain some kind of momentum.
B’ville did beat Broome County 5-3, but even this required quite a comeback. The Bees trailed 3-1 through two periods before roaring through the third, catching up and going in front led by Alessio McGrane’s goal and two assists.
Five different B’ville players found the net, with Burlingame, MacCollum, Gregoire and Jimmy Reynolds joining McGrane in the scoring column. Hinman, Hughes and Brady Garcia each got one assist as Nate Sotherden returned in goal and recorded 23 saves.
It leads to a homestand where, this week, the Bees welcome Ontario Bay and Cicero-North Syracuse to Lysander.
