By Warren Kozireski —
Cade Spencer scored twice and Cullen Hennessy had a two-point game to lead Webster-Thomas to a 3-1 victory over Section 10 champion Ogdensburg in the New York State Regional round.
They will play the winner of Section 3 champ and defending Division II state titlist Skaneateles and Section 6 winner Starpoint on Sat. March 14 at 4:30pm in Buffalo’s Harbor Center.
The Titans jumped out a 1-0 lead 5:20 into the contest as Hennessy stickhandled around two Blue Devils and scored high short-side with assists from Nate Kernan and Zack Wolfe.
They extended their lead to 2-0 in the second period as Spencer converted a two-on-one break after a perfect pass from Hennessy at 6:56. Wolfe started the breakout with a perfect pass from neutral ice.
“I saw the defenseman inch towards my linemate Cullen Hennessy, so I kind of assumed he was going to throw it over and he put a perfect pass to me and I put if home,” Spencer said.
Ogdensburg closed the gap with a power play goal at 11:48 of the second period when sophomore Holden Woods banged in the rebound of a Karson Larose shot.
The Blue Devils pulled their goaltender with 80 seconds remaining in regulation, but Spencer grabbed a loose puck at enter ice after Liam Mayer created a turnover and backhanded a shot from just outside the blueline into the empty net for the final tally.
“We were outshooting them by a lot and had to make sure we cracked down in our defensive zone…and finish it off there,’ Spencer said about the third period. “We can’t wait to get back to states and another shot Skaneateles (who defeated Thomas in last seasons semi-finals 5-2).
“Their goalie played very well and we knew going in he was a good goalie with a 94 save percentage in their league for the year and they only gave up a coupe of goals in their sectional run and won sectionals 1-0, so we knew that we had score some big goals, Webster-Thomas head coach David Evans said.
“They played hard and we played hard and it was a good high school hockey game.”
