Tuesday: Thomas over Penfield, Gananda Earns Shutout

There were eleven games played in the section on Tuesday as a number of team opened their seasons. Webster Thomas scored the last six goals of their game at Penfield, as they defeated Penfield 9-7. Gananda won an elusive shutout, the first in their history, when they beat Wayne Central 7-0. Other winners were, Irondequoit, Canandaigua, Fairport, Pittsford, Eastridge, Churchville-Chili, Waterloo, Canisius and McQuaid Jesuit.

Fairport won their game with Schroeder as they celebrated the life of their teammate, Blake Cognata in the The "Blake Cognata Find Your Strong Game".

  --  In perhaps the most exciting game of the day, Webster Thomas overcame a 7-3 deficit and scored six unanswered goals to defeat Penfield 9-7 in the opening game for both teams.

The game started out evenly as each teams played cautiously, holding the ball at times and testing various match ups. Penfield scored first as senior attackman Andrew Schoeneck (Bellarmine) added the first of his two goals at 8:54. Thomas returned, at 6:09 with an unassisted goal by sophomore middie Kevin Hill (Penn State). The Titans went ahead on a beautiful setup with senior middie Justin Bird feeding senior attackman Jake Giudice with just over five minutes left in the first quarter. Giudice led the Thomas effort, ending the game with 3g-2a. Penfield ended first quarter the scoring with just under a minutes left. Junior midfielder Mitch Standera found Ryan Fulton whose hard side arm shot tied the game at 2-2. It was the first varsity goal for the junior attackman.

After a number of full-field transitions, Giudice scored again on a feed from Bird to break the tie with 5:22 left in the half. At that point, however, Penfield put together a string of five unanswered goals, spanning the rest of the second quarter and much of the third. With 2:02 left in the half, Standera scored on an assist from junior midfielder Brian Wall to tie the game at 3-3. With the clock at 1.1 seconds left, senior attackman Jonathan Spaan scored on a feed from Connor Russell (Albany) to give the Patriots a one goal advantage as the teams broke for halftime.

Penfield wasted no time as the game started again, scoring the first of three in a row in the first minute of the third quarter. Senior middie Anthony Mitchell received the ball from Standera and put Penfield up by two (5-3). On the next face off, senior Connor Russell won his own draw and ran to the Thomas goal where he passed the ball to sophomore attackman Max Spaan who scored at 10:37. Schoeneck scored next, on an unassisted drive the goal, giving Penfield their last goal of the game with 9:01 left in the third quarter.

The rest of the game belonged to the Titans although it did take them a while to get started. The momentum was still with Penfield, but a few of the more vocal players from Webster Thomas challenged their teammates. The encouragement paid off with a two goal flurry that took place in a span of sixteen seconds. Senior attackman John Hill scored on a feed from Giudice at 3:51 and after the next face off, Hill fed junior attackman Mitch Hutteman. The two quick goals changed the momentum in favor of the Titans. As the quarter ended, Penfield was clinging to a two goal lead (7-5).

The Patriots continued to get ball time at the top of the fourth quarter but a couple of penalties gave Thomas added time with the ball and raised their confidence. Giudice scored again on a crossing pass from sophomore middie Pat LeMoine with 5:33 left in the game. John Hill scored on a pass from Bird, in man up, to tie the game at 7-7 with just over four minutes left. Exactly one minute later Hutteman scored again on a crossing pass from Giudice for the go-ahead goal. Although Penfield had a couple of opportunities to score, turnovers at the end of the game gave Thomas the ball. Bird scored the last goal of the game with 2:39 left. Tensions were very high during the last two minutes of the game as Penfield worked for ball control and shots, and Thomas looked to maintain possession.

Penfield won the face off race quite decisively with Connor Russell winning nine of twelve (75%) and Brian Wall winning all four (100%). Thomas used four different players, trying to find a challenge.

Senior goalie Alex Gulisano did his part in the cage for Thomas, recording ten saves (59%). Junior goaltender Liam Guiton faced a few shots less and made six saves for Penfield.

The Titans will take the rest of the week off as their next scheduled game will be hosting Churchville-Chili on Tuesday. The Patriots will travel to Canandaigua on Thursday to play the Braves.

 

--  Canisius (Section Six) traveled to Section Five and defeated Aquinas 10-9. The Little Irish came out strong early in the game but could not hold off the late advances of the Crusaders. Canisius scored four of the last five goals and took the lead with only 2:39 remaining in the game. Junior attackman Alex Bianchi led in scoring for the Little Irish with 2g-2a. Senior midfielder Billy Lombardi finished with 3g. For the Crusaders, Michael Phillips finished with 1g-2a and Stephen Leous finished with 3g.

Lombardi (Penn State) scored two minutes into the game with an unassisted goal for the Little Irish. The ball moved back and forth with both teams getting shots at the goal. Junior goalie Alex Uhlein came up with his first save of the contest for Aquinas. Junior Andrew Clearey came up with two saves for the Crusaders. However, with 1:08 remaining in the opening quarter, Aquinas increased their lead with an unassisted goal from Jamison Whitfield. The Little Irish kept up the pressure and scored on the next shot with junior attackman Alex Bianchi assisting freshman attackman Jonathan Perotto during a man-up situation. On the ensuing face off, Paul Buirch scored on a face off fast break to get the first Crusader goal. The opening quarter ended with the Little Irish leading 3-1.

Canisius scored the opening goal of the second quarter less than one minute into play with an unassisted goal from Ryan Matthews. Two minutes later Canisius tied the game for the second time with an unassisted goal from Stephen Leous. Not willing to give up their lead, Aquinas scored 0:23 later when Lombardi scored his second. The Crusaders scored on their next shot with an unassisted goal by Mathias. Forty seconds later Canisius took their first lead of the game when Buirch assisted Mathias. The first half ended with the Crusaders leading 5-4.

Aquinas came out strong after the halftime break. They scored the first three goals. Perotto scored his second goal (this time unassisted). Bianchi added his first goal and junior middie Greer Leva scored with an assist from Bianchi. With 8:45 remaining in the third quarter, Aquinas led by two goals. The Little Irish kept possession of the ball and only allowed two shots by Canisius in the first six minutes of the quarter. However, Canisius stepped up and scored on three straight shots to end the quarter with the game tied at 8-8.

Bianchi started with the ball at the beginning of the last quarter. He scored on the first Little Irish shot of the quarter to re-take the lead for Aquinas. The Crusaders tied the game on a man-up play with Phillips assisting Stephen Leous with 7:40 remaining. The Little Irish only had one more shot in the fourth quarter and it was saved by Clearey. The game winning goal was scored with 2:49 remaining by Matt McHugh assisted by Bradley Pohlman.

Overall, Canisius scored on three man-up opportunities and Aquinas scored on two. Canisius finished the game with five more shots (26-21) but only two more on cage (14-12). It was a rough game for the goalies with Uhlein finishing with four for Aquinas and Clearey finishing with three for Canisius. Sophomore midfielder Terrance Richards and sophomore defenseman Tommy Bell finished with four ground balls each to lead Aquinas. Andrew Clearey (5) and Buirch (4) led in ground balls for Canisius. Lombardi finished 13/18 at the face off draw. Richards also took draws for the Little Irish and finished 4/5.

 

-- Fairport took a 6-1 lead into the halftime break before ending with a 11-3 victory over visiting Webster Schroeder. Senior midfielder Max Gerling led in offensive scoring for the Red Raiders with 2g-4a with junior Dan McAvoy right behind with 3g-2a. Senior goalie Jake Newkirk had most of the time in the Fairport cage, recording 8 saves (80%). Seniors Keenan Denis and Sig Sahli and junior David Lehman each scored one goal for the Warriors. Sophomore goalie Will Klan (Ohio State) made 20 saves (65%).

The game was played in honor of teammate Blake Cognata who passed away in January after an inspiring fight against Ewing's sarcoma, a rare form of cancer. The "Blake Cognata Find Your Strong Game" was played after a short dedication and celebration of Blake's life. Many fans from both teams wore yellow in honor of Blake.   

-- Pittsford, with almost twice as many players on their roster, proved to be the better team with their 14-6 win over Rush-Henrietta. The Panthers led 12-3 in the third quarter before R-H came back against the Panthers reserves. Although the Royal Comets had some difficulties, they also looked good during many points in the game turning back a number of drives. They could not, however, keep up with the depth of talent on the Pittsford roster.

Pittsford had eight different players score. Junior attackman Stephen Quinzi finished with 5g-1a to lead the Panthers. Sophomore midfielders Brandon Barker (2g-2a) and senior middie Steven Ricci (2g-1a) also added to Pittsford's tally. Overall, the Panthers took 47 shots (25 on cage). Senior midfielder Ben Overslaugh led the Panthers in shots with nine (2 on cage). Quinzi finished with the most on cage (8 shots, 7 on cage). Ricci finished 79% (11/14) at the face off draw with a team leading nine ground balls. Senior attackman Albie DiPasquale and sophomore midfielder Ethan Kober finished with four ground balls each for the Panthers. In the cage, sophomore Kevin Maguire played three quarters and finished with nine saves (69%). Senior Kyle Lake played the final quarter and recorded a single save.

Rush-Henrietta scoring was led by senior attackman Nick Binnert, who participated in five out of six goals for the Royal Comets (3g-2a). He also led his team in shots (8), shots on (5) and finished with two ground balls. Sophomore midfielder Mike Loucks, junior defenseman Zachary Duris and senior goalie McKenzie Spooner each finished with three ground balls for R-H. Spooner finished with 11 saves in the game, including six in the fourth quarter. Defensemen Joe Adams, John Fecik and Duris all played strong defense for the Royal Comets.

-- The Blue Panthers won their first shut-out game in team history with a 7-0 win over Wayne. Gananda defenseman Dylan Joy finished with a team leading 12 ground balls. Face off midfielder Nick Rapp finished with nine ground balls. In the cage, Brandon Smith stopped all six shots he faced spanning the 48 minutes. Wayne defenseman Thomas Harden and midfielder Jake Moss finished with two takes each to lead their team. Attackman Andrew Jenkins finished with a team leading four shots. In the cage, Justin Townsend finished with 16 saves (70%).

-- Churchville-Chili took over and scored ten unanswered goals spanning the second, third and fourth quarters. The Saints were led in scoring by junior attackman Trevor Hodgins (Ohio State) with 3g-4a. The attack scored most of the Saints goals with junior Aaron Buck adding 4g and sophomore Ryan Cosgrove adding 2g-1a. Midfielders Jake Mortier (3g) and Cameron Shipley (2a) also adding to the scoring.

Mortier scored the opening goal only 0:42 into the contest. Spencerport didn't take long to tie the game as Aidan Conolly scored an unassisted goal 0:33 later. Churchville-Chili scored the last two goals of the quarter and led 3-1. The Saints kept up their scoring in the second quarter with the first goal extending their lead 4-1. Spencerport scored the next two goals to keep the game close. Senior attackman Matt Kaser and senior midfielder Nick Ventrella each added a goal for the Rangers but that was a close as they were able to get. The Saints began their scoring run with one additional goal in the second quarter followed by five more in the third quarter and then the first four of the last quarter.

Hodgins led his team in ground balls with seven. Between the pipes, Mike Yehl finished with 10 saves (71%) over 44 minutes. Matt Cobb finished the game for the Saints and recorded one save. For Spencerport, Conolly finished with nine ground balls to lead Rangers. He also finished 12/19 at the face off draw. In the cage, Connor MacKenzie finished with seven saves.

-- McQuaid Jesuit scored the first three goals of the contest and never trailed in their 12-7 win over HF-L. The Knight's largest lead was seven goals with 8:32 remaining in the third quarter. The scoring in the second half (6-5 McQuaid) was much closer than the opening half (6-2 McQuaid). Senior Joe Hanna finished with 1g-3a leading McQuaid.

The opening goal was scored just 1:35 into the game by senior midfielder Jake Merkel. Twenty-six seconds later junior middie Jack Flowerday scored on a drive from a dead ball at midfield. Flowerday ran straight to the goal dodging a number of defenseman on the way. The next goal was scored by junior Joe Hayes on a feed from the goal line by sophomore attackman Jake Gleason. The first Cougar goal of the game was scored by senior midfielder Evan Gaudette (unassisted). The Knights added one more goal with 0:04 remaining in the opening quarter as sophomore Jared Calderon sent the ball to Merkel. The Knights led 4-1 entering the second quarter. Hays scored the opening goal of the quarter after catching a pass on the crease from Hanna who was behind the cage. HF-L junior attackman Ryan Kelly scored the first of his 3g-2a with a man-up goal and an assist from senior attackman Connor Flaherty. Flaherty and Kelly had a part in six out of seven goals for the Cougars. McQuaid scored the next four goals to cement their victory.

Gaudette and junior defenseman Anthony Garcia finished with six ground balls each to lead the Cougars. Flaherty finished with two one-on-one takes. HF-L finished the game with 29 shots (24 taken by Kelly and Flaherty). Merkel led the ground ball count for McQuaid with seven. Senior defenseman Luc Bailey (Ohio State) finished with five ground balls for the Knights. In the cage, sophomore Nick Angelo finished with eight saves.