By Warren Kozireski —
Cal Lambert scored five minutes into the first overtime period as Victor came two goals down twice and defeated Fairport 5-4 in the Class A Section V hockey final.
Fairport opened a 2-0 lead in the first period on even strength goals by Caleb Kaiser and Mitchell Zanon five minutes apart.
Victor got on the board with a power play marker by Alex Parton on a backhand off a rebound with assists to Sam Bresson and Jack McCandless at 4:54.
But Fairport regained their two-goal advantage at 10:08 of the second as Travis Knicley roofed his shot from the faceoff circle after a pass by Kaiser.
The Blue Devils pulled to within one again before the period was over as Nick Peluso found a loose puck in the slot from a Bresson shot and scored at 11:53.
In a wild third period, Victor tied the game 3-3 on a power play goal by McCandless after a perfect cross-crease pass from Parton at 5:59.
Fairport regained their one-goal lead with a power play goal of their own at 7:44 on defenseman Nick Krug’s wrister shot from the point that had eyes.
But the Blue Devils continued to pressure and Steven Armstrong retied the game 4-4 as he pounced on a rebound in the slot. Victor survived a Fairport power play over the final 90 seconds of regulation to send the game into overtime.
Victor had an overtime power play and had one chance dribble just wide of the net before Fairport failed to convert a two-on-one shorthanded break before Cal Lambert found a loose puck at the side of the Fairport net after a goal-mouth scramble and knocked it in for the game-winner with assist from Armstrong and Colin McNamara.
“I saw it on the goal-line and I was able to put it in,” Lambert said. “Probably one of the craziest games that I’ve been a part of; just having faith in my teammates going into the locker room down 2-0, but knowing that we were going to win the game and not having any doubt in our mind.
“When you trust your teammates, you know the puck is going to end up in the back of the net.”
“It’s all a blur after that puck went in the net,” Armstrong said.
Victor advances to the State Regional round where they will play the Section III winner of Syracuse City versus West Genesee on Sat. March 7 at 5pm at RIT.
