Blue Devils lose in semi finals

Brockport, in spite of being seeded seventh in Class AA, advanced to the semi-finals before dropping a 3-2 decision to Bishop Kearney/Eastridge in high school hockey.

The Blue Devils took a 1-0 lead in the first period when Matt Ritzel took a pass from Zak Novak and scored on a wrist shot from outside the left faceoff circle.

Kearney tied the game with just 18 seconds left in the opening stanza and scored a power play goal for the only tally of the second period. Nick Williams made it 3-1 Kearney halfway through the third period.

Brockport closed to within a goal at the 10:19 mark of the third when Anthony Starnino banged home a rebound with Alan Hart and Eric McJury assisting. The Blue Devils got into penalty trouble late in the game and could not capitalize when they had the opportunity to pull goaltender Dan Cavanaugh.

"We peaked at the right time," said Brockport head coach Scott Empey about his seventh ranked Blue Devils, who defeated the Greece Lightning and upset second seeded Gates Chili to reach the semis. "We prepared for sectionals since we weren't in the hunt. The main thing is that we wanted to keep improving, our work ethic and systems kept getting better and we surprised people by being a bit of a Cinderella team. We give a player of the game award in the locker room and Cavanaugh was it today - he played strong and kept us in it."

McJury led the team in scoring during the regular season with 16 points with Starnino (13), Al Hart (11) and Novak (10) also in double figures. Six seniors played in their final game including goaltenders Cavanaugh and Troy LaDue.

In the previous victory over Gates Chili, Braden Flynn scored twice. Cavanaugh made 32 saves in net for the Blue Devils who finished 5-12-2 overall.

February 26, 2006