Leading off today: Barring an overtime tie that cannot be broken -- which isn't out of the realm of possibility (see below) -- Massena or Ithaca will stand alone at the top in more than one way Sunday in Utica at the NYSPHSAA high school hockey tournament.
"Someone is going to take over the lead for most Division I championships and they are going to tie Salmon River for state tournament wins with six," Massena coach Trimboli told The Watertown Daily Times.
Ithaca advanced by topping Scarsdale 6-4 in the semifinals Saturday. In the other semifinal, Massena advanced to thanks to a slapshot from junior defenseman Devin Page and a rebound goal from senior Tyler Young with 3:40 left in overtime for a 2-1 win over Fairport.
Page got control of the puck near the Massena blue line and rushed up the right wing. He cut left and wristed a shot that handcuffed goalie Ethan Kaiser (19 saves). The rebound bounced to Kaiser's right, where Young was waiting.
"It was the end of a shift and I was tired," Page told the newspaper. "I was thinking of just dumping the puck in deep to get a line change but I saw (Young) skating into the zone with me and I had an opening to take a shot. The coaches always say that when we're in that position, to try to shoot the puck against the grain and that's what I tried to do."
Massena senior goalie Connor Paquin turned aside 19 shots in the victory over Fairport, which was making its first trip to the state semifinals since 2008.
"This was a total team effort and Connor really played his part well," Trimboli said.
In the first game, Ithaca built leads of 3-1 and 6-3 to advance. Jacob Grippen led the Little Red with two goals and two assists, and Sunghyun Won added two goals. Goalie Brandon Kasel made 31 saves.
Division II hockey: Beekmantown squandered a two-goal lead and was on the wrong end of an overtime heartbreaker in the 2013 semifinals, dropping a 4-3 decision to eventual champion Syracuse CBA/Jamesville-DeWitt.
There would be no 2014 rerun. After falling a goal down in the first period where they were outshot 10-2, Beekmantown rallied on third-period goals from Kyle Bisonette and Nate Foster to earn a 2-1 win over Auburn.
The Eagles advanced to the championship game against Webster Schroeder.
"I said before we even came down here, 'Any great goal in life that you want to obtain, you're going to face challenges and adversities along the way. It's the team that handles those challenges and adversities the best that's going to come out the winner at the end of the game,'" coach Justin Frechette told The Press-Republican. "We answered the bell."
After being held scoreless by Auburn's Brendan Entenmann for 32:57, Bisonette broke through while all alone in front to tie the game. Foster's 41st goal of the season came 4:20 later as the senior captain scooped up a loose puck and lifted it over Entenmann on the glove side.
"It seemed like the puck was sitting there forever," he said. "It felt like a few seconds."
In the other semi, Matt Montgomery scored the tie-breaking goal 6:32 into the second period and sophomore Ryan Winn provided insurance with 9:32 left in the third for the Warriors, making their first trip to the final four.
"You think about how much fun it's been, what a journey it's been, and it's not over yet," Winn told the Democrat and Chronicle. "We came here for one reason."
A long day of work: After seven overtimes, coaches from Sylvania Northview and Cleveland St. Ignatius decided to end Saturday's Ohio High School Athletic Association hockey championship game in a 1-1 tie.
OHSAA officials said the decision was agreed to by both coaching staffs out of concern for player safety. The OHSAA had never previously crowned co-champions.
Northview goalie David Marsh set a state championship game record for saves with 77. As a team, Northview
