By Warren Kozireski–
Spencerport received goals from seven different players and junior goaltender Rachel Brase made her return from a dislocated kneecap with 24 saves to lead the Rangers to a 7-3 victory over Canandaigua in the second Class B semi-final.
The Class B final is Monday at 6pm at RIT—the first hockey Section V final for the Rangers in program history. They also set a new school record with their 19th win of the season.
Sophomore forward Joey Cuzzopoli staked the Rangers to a 1-0 lead with a power play goal at 4:17 of the first as he swatted in the second rebound off his initial attempt.
After Canandaigua tied the game less than two minutes later, Spencerport responded on the next shift with defenseman Parker Scholand putting his wrist shot inside the right post after a pass from Luc Fedele. Freshman Ryan Plouffe made it 3-1 Rangers just 31 seconds later with a rebound goal.
The Braves closed to within 3-2, but again the Rangers answered at 15:08 of the first as Jason Uebelacker reached the 50-point mark on the season off a perfect tic-tac-toe passing play with Fedele and AJ Giannavola.
Spencerport made it 5-2 with the only goal of the second stanza—a power play marker by Giannavola after Fedele created an offensive zone turnover.
Junior Mark Neu scored short side at 1:20 of the third during a five-on-three power play to make it 6-2.
Canandaigua tacked on a goal midway through the final period before Fedele scored into an empty-net from his own end of the ice.
“It was a little nerve-wracking not having played for the team for months, but once you get into it, there’s not much you can worry about,” Brase said about her comeback.
