By Warren Kozireski
Senior forward Hunter Huttemann scored twice while junior defenseman Liam Porter and junior forward Cameron Gebo each had two-point games to lead Hilton to a 5-2 victory over top-seed Pittsford to win the first Section V ice hockey championship in program history.
Pittsford opened the scoring just 12 seconds into the contest.
“It’s happened to me before,” Hilton senior goaltender Lennon Suplicki said about the early goal against. “You just have to clear your head space; the whole team is always picking you up.”
The Cadets rebounded four minutes later as the game’s Most Valuable Player, senior forward Mason Knight, took a left-wing feed from Gebo and rifled it home to tie the game 1-1.
“I had a shot earlier on my first shift blocker side and he kind of bobbled it, so the puck came to me, and I just ripped it to the same spot, and it just went in,” Knight said on the ice after the game.
Pittsford retook the lead later in the first, but Hilton tied it 2-2 10:41 into the second period on an offensive zone faceoff following an icing call on the Panthers. Freshman forward Jayden Teetsel netted the goal with an assist from sophomore Lucas Grizzanti.
The Cadets then took over the contest in the third period, taking a 3-2 lead at 1:50 of the third period as Porter blasted a shot from the left point that deflected in off a Pittsford stick with an assist from Gebo.
Seven minutes later, Huttemann redirected a point shot from Porter just under the crossbar, and Huttemann later netted the clinching empty net goal.
“I have no words; we’re just so happy that we got it done for the first time in school history,” Huttemann said. “We studied film on these guys, and we were ready to play. We had a belief that nothing was going to stop us from winning this game. We weren’t going to let it slip away this year; we wanted the title, and we got it.”
Suplicki made 33 saves in the net for the Cadets.
“It feels amazing; this team is just something special,” Suplicki said. “I’ve never seen a team so dedicated to winning one thing as a whole group; it’s amazing.”
“I still don’t know how to process what we accomplished; there isn’t a group of guys that deserve this more than these guys,” Hilton head coach Chris Monfilletto said. “They believed in themselves, they believed in each other, and with that belief, you’re going to be able to do a lot of great things.
“We made a commitment at the end of the second period that we’re not sitting back, and we’re going to do what we do, and we’re going to put pressure on…and that’s exactly what we did in the third period.”
It was especially fitting for the Cadets to win their first title this season as they honored previous head coach John Farnham, the former RIT hockey player who died in August. Prior head coaches, Tom Dowd and Bruce Klingler, died two years ago.
“It makes it that much sweeter. They were all here tonight; that third period, they all showed up…saying we’re going to will these guys to this win, and they were here, we could feel it.”
Hilton advances to the New York State tournament and will host Section III champion West Genesee on March 7.
