Brockport scored twice in the first period and added two more late in the third to defeat Webster-Thomas 4-1 to win the Section V Class B championship.
After the Blue Devils couldn’t score on an extended first period power play that included 14 seconds on five-on-three, they took a 1-0 lead on a perfect give-and-go with captain Alec Rockow converting a return pass from Patrick Viscardi at 7:31.
The Titans threatened later in the period as Brockport goaltender Liam Schreiner lost his stick for 45 seconds, but a good stick check by Walden Grady knocked the puck away.
Minutes later the Blue Devils made it 2-0 as Peyton Young forced an offensive zone turnover by the Thomas defense and scored an unassisted goal at 13:44.
The Titans scored on a redirection about five minutes into the second period to close to within 2-1 before both teams played the rest of the second and much of the third period with more tight-checking, less risky approaches.
Thomas started to pressure the Brockport net, but Schreiner made three wonderful saves in a quick sequence with less than three minutes remaining in regulation.
After a Brockport dump-in, the Titans goaltender tried to pass the puck, but Young intercepted and found Maison Fadale who redirected it into the net for a 3-1 Blue Devil advantage at 13:02.
Forty-nine seconds later with Brockport shorthanded, it was Fadale creating yet another turnover at the blueline. He backhanded it under the crossbar to ice the Blue Devils 4-1 victory.
“So excited; such a sigh of relief that we finally got it done and I couldn’t be more proud of everyone on the team,” Most Valuable Player Fadale said. “It was a little nerve-wracking at 2-1 with five minutes left, but luckily I got the third goal and capped it off with the fourth goal; it’s a nice feeling.”
“I thought we didn’t finish early…to make it 3-1, so I was getting a little nervous that maybe we didn’t capitalize,” Brockport head coach Greg Stahl said.
“We’ve been beating a lot of teams early – getting way ahead of them – so that was probably the tightest third period we’ve been in.
“We saw on video that they were throwing the puck up the middle. We tried to keep a guy up top and we also kept a guy down low for when we got the turnover and it worked a lot.”
“This is honestly the best feeling I’ve probably had in my entire life,” Schreiner, who finished with 26 saves, said. “It’s truly special especially to share it with such amazing teammates.”
Rockow was named the Offensive Player of the Game. The Blue Devils, ranked fourth in Division II in the latest New York State Sportswriters rankings, advance to the regional round of the state tournament against West Seneca East of Section VI.
