Aquinas 3, WFL Panthers Final/OT
Junior Connor Carey played the role of hero for his older teammates, scoring a hat trick to lift the Li’l Irish to a senior night victory.
Collin Trapiss scored an unassisted goal first for the WFL Panthers, which was followed by a powerplay goal by Carey assisted by Ares Miller, tying up the game at 1 heading to the first intermission.
Midway through the second period, the Panthers got back in front as Ryan Brown poked in a loose puck in front of the net. Carey answered once again on special teams, this time redirecting a point shot from Iesa Mohammed right after a faceoff while shorthanded.
Neither team scored in the third period, sending the game into overtime. Carey took the puck in his own end then worked his way down the ice, deking past a defender and beating the goalie to complete his hat trick.
Seniors Andrew Gatti and Sammy Muir split time in net for the Li’l Irish. Gatti made 13 saves on 15 shots, while Muir stopped all 25 he faced, including a penalty shot in the third period.
Seth Taylor kept the Panthers in the game, making 45 saves on 48 shots.
Aquinas (9-4-1) will have two weeks off before their next game, playing St. Francis from the Buffalo area on Saturday, January 28th. WFL (4-8) will host Fulton on Thursday, January 19th.
Fairport 3, Spartan Hockey 3 Final/OT
After losing 6-1 in their earlier matchup this season, Spartan Hockey put up a much better fight in round two, skating to a 3-3 tie.
Fairport scored the first two goals of the game, both on rebounds. Nate Russo cleaned up his own mess for the first goal, and Max Toscano scored his first career varsity goal after popping in Andrew Crowley’s stopped shot.
Spartan Hockey rallied, scoring the next three goals. Ayden Zugnoni scored a one-timer on the powerplay from Mikey Valent to end the first period. Valent and Connor Newberry both scored in the second period, with each goal assisted by Nolan Jeroy.
However, Fairport was able to tie the game at 3 less than two minutes into the third on a goal from Alex Golden.
Neither team was able to break through the rest of the game for the winning goal. Keegan Waldo made 30 saves in net for Spartan Hockey while Connor McRae stopped 24 shots for Fairport.
Fairport (3-6-4) will travel to Portside on Tuesday, January 17th while Spartan Hockey (6-4-2) will take on Victor on the same evening.