BHBS rolls past CBA to clinch home ice

After a big loss to Saratoga earlier in the season, BHBS head coach Jim Buffoline told the boys that they needed to win their last 9 games in order to host a sectional game. Well, they’re hosting a sectional game. In what was perhaps the biggest game all year to date, with the winner hosting a home game, the BHBS Spartans were able to get it done as they cruise past the CBA Brothers 6-3 on Saturday night. It was the 9th consecutive win for the Spartans, who finish the regular season 15-4-1.

Geordan Buffoline recorded 5 points (2 G, 3 A) in the win, and he finishes first in Section 2 in goals (22), assists (31), and points (53), becoming the first BHBS player to take the Triple Crown. Tino Benamati recorded 4 points (1 G, 3 A), and finishes 4th in Section 2 in points, with 43. Alec Lind recorded his third hat trick of the season, and he finishes with 21 goals and 19 assists, for 40 points. The top three goal scorers in Section 2 all come from BHBS. Mark Stocker stopped 30 shots to win his 5th straight start. He has not allowed more than 3 goals in any game in that stretch.

You wouldn’t guess the final score by watching the first period, because it was all Brothers. They controlled the entirety of the period, and took a 1-0 lead into the locker room after leading in shots 13-4. Jake Bundy had the goal for the Brothers.

After a completely flat and slow first period, whatever coach Jim Buffoline said to the team, it worked. They came out firing, and Alec Lind buried a loose puck on the doorstep to tie the game at 1. But CBA had an answer, and freshman Hunter Pemrick put one in to put the Brothers back on top at 2-1. And then, the floodgates opened up. Geordan Buffoline used a beautiful move to lose CBA goalie Justin Bryar and score to tie it at 2, and just minutes later, Tino Benamati fired a hard wrister that Bryar couldn’t make a play on, and it was 3-2 BHBS just like that. 3 minutes later, it was Buffoline again, burying a feed from Nick Koszelak to make it 4-2. And then it was Lind again, ripping one home to push the lead to 5-2. CBA head coach Blaine Drescher decided he had seen enough, and pulled Justin Bryar in favor of Brandon Mohrhoff. It was the second consecutive game Bryar had been pulled. He was given the axe after allowing 5 goals against Bethlehem on Wednesday.

In the third period, the Spartans laid back a little bit, and played more casually, with a 3-goal lead and no signs of life from CBA, and about halfway through the period, Alec Lind completed the hat trick by burying a wrister and making it 6-2 Spartans. CBA’s Peter Galica scored on a 6-on-3 (empty net, two BHBS penalties) with 54 seconds remaining for the final tally.

For BHBS, they finish the regular season at 15-4-1 (10-3-1 S2), and will host CBA in the first round of sectionals on Wednesday. For CBA, they finish at 10-10-0 (9-6-0 S2), and will travel to face BHBS on Wednesday.

GOALS:

1st Period

6:05 (CBA)- Jake Bundy (4) ASST: Rob West (18), Hunter Pemrick (14)

2nd Period

12:08 (BHBS)- Alec Lind (19) ASST: Geordan Buffoline (29), Sam Swingruber (13)

11:21 (CBA)- Hunter Pemrick (18) ASST: Andrew Mesick (8)

10:27 (BHBS)- Geordan Buffoline (21) ASST: Nick Koszelak (21), Tino Benamati (20)

7:49 (BHBS)- Tino Benamati (21) ASST: Sam Swingruber (14), Nick Koszelak (22)

4:23 (BHBS)- Geordan Buffoline (22) ASST: Nick Koszelak (23), Tino Benamati (21)

1:35 (BHBS)- Alec Lind (20) ASST: Geordan Buffoline (30), Tino Benamati (22)

3rd Period

8:36 (BHBS)- Alec Lind (21) ASST: Geordan Buffoline (31), Nick Koszelak (24)

0:54 (CBA)- Peter Galica (5) ASST: Hunter Pemrick (15), Owen Greene (6)