MASSENA WINS Section 10 Division 1 over CANTON 3-2 & pics from Massena Playing SLC
(COURIER OBSERVER) The Massena Central hockey team earned a chance to defend its NYSPHSAA championship after capturing a fourth straight Section 10 Division I championship with a 3-2 win over Canton Central at Clarkson’s Cheel Arena on Monday.
“We see this as being the first step in a process. We knew this was going to be a tough game and that we had to earn the right to get back to states,” said coach Mike Trimboli after the Raiders took the lead with just over four minutes remaining in regulation then held off a late Golden Bears surge for the sectional four-peat.
Massena will now get set to begin defense of their NYSPHAA Division I championship this Saturday at the Massena Arena against Section 1 champion Scarsdale starting at 1:30 p.m. Scarsdale outlasted Suffern 4-3 in the Section 1 final played on Monday.
“Both teams left it all out there on the ice,” said Canton coach Randy Brown after his squad closed out the season at 14-7-1.
“We were ready for them and I thought we played pretty well. There weren’t a lot of mistakes out there for either team but Massena was able to capitilize on a turnover late and that was the difference,” he added.
The Raiders twice took the lead only to have the Golden Bears counter with power play goals and the teams went into the third period knotted at 2-2.
Massena got off to a fast start, breaking through for the opening goal just 1:54 into the game when senior Devin Page stepped into an odd-man rush to finish off a two-on-one centering pass from the right wing from junior Bailey Hewlett. Senior Dylan Stone set up the break with a long pass up the right wing.
But the Golden Bears, who outshot the Raiders 13-6 in the opening frame, took advantage of the second Massena penalty to tie the game with 24 seconds left when Chris Reed one-timed a shot from the left circle into the back of the net to finish off a play set up by Mark Mahoney and Garrett Glasgow.
Massena regained the lead 6:53 into the second period when, moments after the Bears had killed off a penalty, senior Patrick Manning attempted a shot on goal from the slot but had his shot partially blocked. The puck wound up fluttering up and over the shoulder of netminder Jacob Facey (27 saves). Wyatt Wilmshurst and Josh Underwood combined to set up the go-ahead goal.
Less than a minute later Massena was whistled for its only penalty of the middle frame but the Bears once again made them pay when senior Cody Moore controlled a pass in the left circle and beat netminder Logan Brothers (22 saves) with a low wristshot to the short side at the 8:11 mark.
“The two-week lay-off didn’t help us that’s for sure,” said Trimboli after the Raiders stepped to the ice for their first game since Valentine’s Day weekend. “It was tough to keep everyone energized over that time and I thought there was a lot of nervousness on our part in the first period.”
“Canton came out and played extremely well. When we got penalties, they were tough on us,” he added. “We made a couple of adjustments for the start of the third period and we talked about staying out of the penalty box.”
A tight-checking third period remained scoreless and was moving at a fast pace before an injury to Canton senior Mike Huber, who reportedly hurt his hip when taking a clean check along the boards, caused a 15-minute delay in the middle of the period before he was taken from the bench to an awaiting ambulance on a stretcher. He acknowledged teammates and fans on his way off the ice.
“Losing Mike was tough,” said coach Brown, who was unsure of the exact nature of the injury. “We know it was his hip. He was in quite a bit of pain.”
Less than five minutes after the delay, junior Ben Sprague controlled a loose puck along the right boards near centerice then darted up the wing, creating a two-on-one with Wilmhurst, a sophomore, who one-timed a centering pass from Sprague into a wide-open net with 4:10 left in regulation.
“Ben made a perfect play chipping the puck ahead and chasing it down and just made a great pass. I had the whole net,” said Wilmshurst, who as later honored as the NAC Division I MVP and received a plaque from North Country Sports.Net as the leading scorer in the division.
But the rest of the highlights of the game for the Raiders were produced by Brothers, who helped Massena weather a late Canton surge by making close range saves off of Cody Moore, Josh Huiatt and Cole Moore in the closing minutes.
“Canton came right at us right to the end and Logan came up huge,” noted Trimboli. “He’s played a key role for us down the stretch.”
Along with Huber, Reed and Cody Moore, the Bears will lose the services of senior captain Cole Zeller and classmates Kyle Curtis and Dan Olin.
“We had a good mix this year and I’m very proud of this group,” noted coach Brown.
And pictures from The Raiders and SLC game, who held leads of 2-0 and 3-1 early in the contest, forced the overtime when Wyatt Wilmshurst was credited with the goal that tied the contest at 5-5 with just 14 seconds left in regulation time. A shot on the ice from the right point deflected off a skate in the slot to send the game into overtime
Read More“We see this as being the first step in a process. We knew this was going to be a tough game and that we had to earn the right to get back to states,” said coach Mike Trimboli after the Raiders took the lead with just over four minutes remaining in regulation then held off a late Golden Bears surge for the sectional four-peat.
Massena will now get set to begin defense of their NYSPHAA Division I championship this Saturday at the Massena Arena against Section 1 champion Scarsdale starting at 1:30 p.m. Scarsdale outlasted Suffern 4-3 in the Section 1 final played on Monday.
“Both teams left it all out there on the ice,” said Canton coach Randy Brown after his squad closed out the season at 14-7-1.
“We were ready for them and I thought we played pretty well. There weren’t a lot of mistakes out there for either team but Massena was able to capitilize on a turnover late and that was the difference,” he added.
The Raiders twice took the lead only to have the Golden Bears counter with power play goals and the teams went into the third period knotted at 2-2.
Massena got off to a fast start, breaking through for the opening goal just 1:54 into the game when senior Devin Page stepped into an odd-man rush to finish off a two-on-one centering pass from the right wing from junior Bailey Hewlett. Senior Dylan Stone set up the break with a long pass up the right wing.
But the Golden Bears, who outshot the Raiders 13-6 in the opening frame, took advantage of the second Massena penalty to tie the game with 24 seconds left when Chris Reed one-timed a shot from the left circle into the back of the net to finish off a play set up by Mark Mahoney and Garrett Glasgow.
Massena regained the lead 6:53 into the second period when, moments after the Bears had killed off a penalty, senior Patrick Manning attempted a shot on goal from the slot but had his shot partially blocked. The puck wound up fluttering up and over the shoulder of netminder Jacob Facey (27 saves). Wyatt Wilmshurst and Josh Underwood combined to set up the go-ahead goal.
Less than a minute later Massena was whistled for its only penalty of the middle frame but the Bears once again made them pay when senior Cody Moore controlled a pass in the left circle and beat netminder Logan Brothers (22 saves) with a low wristshot to the short side at the 8:11 mark.
“The two-week lay-off didn’t help us that’s for sure,” said Trimboli after the Raiders stepped to the ice for their first game since Valentine’s Day weekend. “It was tough to keep everyone energized over that time and I thought there was a lot of nervousness on our part in the first period.”
“Canton came out and played extremely well. When we got penalties, they were tough on us,” he added. “We made a couple of adjustments for the start of the third period and we talked about staying out of the penalty box.”
A tight-checking third period remained scoreless and was moving at a fast pace before an injury to Canton senior Mike Huber, who reportedly hurt his hip when taking a clean check along the boards, caused a 15-minute delay in the middle of the period before he was taken from the bench to an awaiting ambulance on a stretcher. He acknowledged teammates and fans on his way off the ice.
“Losing Mike was tough,” said coach Brown, who was unsure of the exact nature of the injury. “We know it was his hip. He was in quite a bit of pain.”
Less than five minutes after the delay, junior Ben Sprague controlled a loose puck along the right boards near centerice then darted up the wing, creating a two-on-one with Wilmhurst, a sophomore, who one-timed a centering pass from Sprague into a wide-open net with 4:10 left in regulation.
“Ben made a perfect play chipping the puck ahead and chasing it down and just made a great pass. I had the whole net,” said Wilmshurst, who as later honored as the NAC Division I MVP and received a plaque from North Country Sports.Net as the leading scorer in the division.
But the rest of the highlights of the game for the Raiders were produced by Brothers, who helped Massena weather a late Canton surge by making close range saves off of Cody Moore, Josh Huiatt and Cole Moore in the closing minutes.
“Canton came right at us right to the end and Logan came up huge,” noted Trimboli. “He’s played a key role for us down the stretch.”
Along with Huber, Reed and Cody Moore, the Bears will lose the services of senior captain Cole Zeller and classmates Kyle Curtis and Dan Olin.
“We had a good mix this year and I’m very proud of this group,” noted coach Brown.
And pictures from The Raiders and SLC game, who held leads of 2-0 and 3-1 early in the contest, forced the overtime when Wyatt Wilmshurst was credited with the goal that tied the contest at 5-5 with just 14 seconds left in regulation time. A shot on the ice from the right point deflected off a skate in the slot to send the game into overtime
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