Three Section 1 ice hockey teams, Suffern, Byram Hills and Rye, play in Saturday’s state semifinals at LECOM Harborcenter in Buffalo with winners advancing to Sunday’s finals at LECOM.
Check back here for semifinal results after each game.
Trailing late in third period, Rye knots score, then beats Clarence in OT
Rye knows all about playing in overtime.
It was the No. 1 seed in the Section 1 Div. II final but fell to No. 3 Byram Hills in OT.
Its season wasn’t done, though. This was Section 1’s turn to send an extra team — the runner-up — to the state Div. II ice hockey tournament.
Rye has made good use of that extra chance.
The Garnets, who beat Clarence in overtime early in the season, came from behind Saturday to knot the score late in regulation of their state Div. II semifinal against the Section 6 champion, then scored with 12:38 left in overtime to top Clarence 3-2.
The win means Rye and Byram Hills will face each other Sunday for the state title — hours and hours north of Section 1, at the LECOM Harborcenter in Buffalo, the site of Saturday’s semifinals.
What it also means is Section 1 is guaranteed at least one state ice hockey title and might return with two.
Earlier in the day, Suffern, which has won the last two straight state Div. I titles, defeated Section 5 Pittsford 5-3 in its semifinal.
Byram Hills took down Section 7’s Beekmantown 4-2.
While that game didn’t lack excitement — Beekmantown led 2-0 early and trailed by only a goal before an empty-netter sealed the Bobcats’ win — it paled in comparison to Rye’s comeback win.
Rye, which went up 1-0 in the first period, found itself down 2-1 at the end of two periods and down 2-1 until just 2:22 remained in the third period.
That’s when, on a power play, Rye’s Colin Nigro shot wide left to goalie Carson Oates’ right. The senior netminder, who had an outstanding game with 39 saves, slid right with the shot, but Rye’s Will Niejadlik, who was behind the net, shuffled the puck out in front on the other side, where Will Weinman was camped. Weinman lifted the puck inside the post before Oates was able to get fully across to that side of the net.
In overtime, Rye, which, remarkably, took more than 90 shots — some good chances that just missed wide — sealed the win when Jack McGill redirected a Will Molin shot from the point past Oates.
Rye’s other goal came off a Finn Draddy first-period one-time off a Molin pass with Kai Brittain picking up the secondary assist.
Player of the game
McGill: It doesn’t get much better than scoring in OT to send your team to the state finals.
Game stats
Jeremy Dorigo scored Clarence’s first goal early in the second period off a power play.
Taylor Regian followed that by putting Clarence up 2-1 after getting free in front for a feed from Ryan Yemma.
Rye goalie Fernando Mosquera, who was otherwise flawless and had a great third-period save and cover on a shot from the point through traffic, finished with 24 saves. He also got some help from his crossbar on Liam Przybylski’s breakaway chance early in the third period.
They said it
“I think what I liked about today is we played with poise,” Rye coach Peter Thomas said. “We never panicked, even when we went down. We had a lot of confidence and kept playing our game.”
“(Against Byram Hills) tomorrow, (I’d like) more of what we did today. We need to challenge them, get pucks from them and get their goalie moving and uncomfortable,” Thomas said.
Byram Hills scores four straight times to top Beekmantown
Down 2-0 halfway through the first period, Byram Hills scored four unanswered goals, the last two in the third period, as they defeated Beekmantown 4-2 Saturday to advance to Sunday’s state Div. II championship game.
The Bobcats, now 17-5-1, will play Rye, the Section 1 Div. II runner-up, which edged Clarence 3-2 in overtime.
The final, like Saturday’s semis, will be at LECOM Harborcenter in Buffalo. Puck drop is scheduled for 2 p.m.
Saturday’s win was the ninth consecutive for Byram Hills, which won the Section I Div. II title as the No. 3 seed, upsetting No. 2 Pelham in the semis and then No. 1 Rye in the championship game.
As has been true throughout the playoffs, the Bobcats got a big effort from netminder Lucas Guggenheimer, who yielded the early goals off a rebound and a breakaway, but then shut the door. His excellent stop in close on Edward Sweenor prevented Beekmantown from going up 3-1 in the second period.
The Bobcats finally got on the board with 7:29 left in the second when Andrew Tymus’ pass in front from the left side found the stick of Andrey Pytel, who put his shot in.
Tymus then knotted things a little under five minutes later, deflecting home a shot by Christian Cipriano with the Bobcats on the power play. Kai Licznerski had the second assist on the goal.
The game-winner came with 8:02 remaining in the game and was also on a power play. Cipriano threw a backhander on net and Licznerski’s shot beat Beekman keeper Jack Bell, who had several outstanding saves. Tymus also assisted on the play.
Bell was out of the net for an extra skater when Cipriano iced the contest with an empty-netter with 1:14 remaining.
Player of the game
Tymus, who was a force on both ends of the ice and had a goal and two assists, took top game honors.
Game stats
Pryce Parker scored the game’s first goal off an assist from Edward Sweenor.
Mason Carter made it 2-0 on a breakaway, coming in on Guggenheimer’s right before shooting back high the other way.
Bell stopped 34 shots.
Guggenheimer had 24 saves for the Bobcats.
They said it
Byram Hills coach Patrick Busche praised the play of his second line, Lisnerski, Zach Yoon and eighth-grader Theo Hamilton.
He said even when his team was down 2-0, his team was outplaying Beekmantown.
“I felt we were in the driver’s seat,” he said.
Sean Tyrrell scores five to power Suffern to state final
Sean Tyrrell. Sean Tyrrell. Sean Tyrrell. Sean Tyrrell. Sean Tyrrell.
Yes, other players contributed, but no Suffern Mountie had a bigger game in Saturday’s 5-3 Div. I state semifinal win over Pittsford at LECOM Harborcenter in Buffalo.
Suffern went out to a 3-0 lead on three Tyrrell goals before Pittsford scored twice to go into the third period down by only one.
But Tyrrell, whose lethal snap shot and wrist shot are known throughout Section 1, added two more goals — the second with his team clinging to a 4-3 lead with 1:29 to play — to put the game away.
Suffern, which has won the state Div. I title the last two years and three of the last four, will go for a three-peat Sunday, facing Canton (a 3-2 overtime winner over West Genesee) at 11 a.m. at the Harborcenter.
Suffern is now 17-5-1. Pittsford finished 19-4-2.
Player of the game
A no-doubter: Tyrrell.
Game stats
Tyrrell scored 33 seconds into the game when his shot trickled through Panthers keeper Aiden Stauffer and it appeared that a Pittsford defenseman, trying to clear it, instead banked it off Stauffer and into the net.
That was the only goal by Tyrrell that wasn’t a snipe.
Tyrrell roofed a shot to make it 2-0 in the last 20 seconds of the first period off a faceoff in the Panther zone.
He made it 3-0 with 7;55 left in the second period, stealing the puck inside the Panther blue line and, right on top of the crease, moving left to right, beat Stauffer with a backhand..
Tyrrell’s fourth goal came with 9:52 to play when he top-shelfed a shot to beat Stauffer.
Suffern subsequently dodged a bullet, taking two straight penalties, the second with six seconds remaining in the first to give Pittsford a 5-on-3 advantage.
David Pollard beat Suffern goalie Tyler Grossman high to cut the Suffern lead to 4-3 but the goal scored one second after the first penalty expired, meaning Suffern was able to empty its box to play at even strength for the last five-plus minutes.
Tyrrell’s last goal was a no-doubter as he took a feed on the left side and rifled a shot under the crossbar that made Stauffer’s water bottle hop.
That came off assists from Matt Norum and Anthony Ruggiero. Norum had three assists. Ruggiero and Shaefer Pinotti both had two assists and Nick Giammatteo had one assist for Suffern.
Evan Weiner had Pittsford’s first goal, burying a rebound to make it 3-1 with 5:59 left in the second period. Casey Reagan had Pittsford’s second score with 34.7 seconds left in the second period on assists from Pollard and Weiner after a failed Suffern clear attempt.
Grossman had 34 saves for Suffern and Stauffer stopped 25 shots.
They said it
Tyrrell, whose fans included his three brothers, who’d all played for Suffern with two having won state championships, noted the five-goal game was the first of his career. His previous high for goals in a game was four in this year’s playoffs vs. Rivertown.
Suffern appeared in defensive mode — content to just get the puck out of its defensive zone — for a few minutes before Tyrrell’s last score. But he said that wasn’t planned and the Mounties were just taking the best available option in clearing it.
“We had to stay composed and relaxed (after Pittsford’s third goal),” he said, calling Pittsford an offensive team that’s really good in transition.
Tyrrell, who praised Grossman for playing a “great game,” said of his final goal, “I happened to be in the right spot.”
“He’s phenomenal. He has been great for us all year. He just played incredible,” Suffern coach Rob Schelling said of Tyrrell, who plans to play club hockey at the University of Delaware.
Schedule and results
Div. I semifinals
Suffern 5, Pittsford 3
Canton 3, West Genesee 2 (OT)
Div. II semifinals
Byram Hills 4,. Beekmantown 2
Rye 3, Clarence 2 (OT)
Nancy Haggerty covers sports for The Journal News/lohud.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Suffern, Byram Hills, Rye all win to make state ice hockey finals
Reporting by Nancy Haggerty, Rockland/Westchester Journal News / Rockland/Westchester Journal News
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