hockypeewee1The  IYHA PeeWee 2 team faced Cortland Flames this last weekend in a game to decide the regular season Snowbelt League Championship before Playoffs being in March.  Both teams had strong regular season records with Cortland  sporting a 13-1-1 record and Ithaca 2  posting an 11-1-1 record.

A win by Ithaca 2 over Cortland would place them in a position to grab the regular season pennant. The game started out well for Ithaca when Josh Zajac was able to sneak a centering pass from Jack Babuka past the Cortland net minder.  With 4 minutes left in the first, Ithaca again scored when Ryan Bishop ripped a shot onto the Cortland goalie who made the initial stop, but gave up the rebound to Damian Valent.

The second period was a saw a strong counter attack from Cortland who was able to put two goals past veteran Ithaca goalie Ryan Besemer, whose strong glove had kept the Cortland attackers scoreless during the first period.    While several scoring drives were made by wingers Matthew Kirkwood and Tiffany Lobdell, neither were able to find the back of the net.

peewee2_feb9Picture is of the Josh Zajac, Nic Whittaker, and Jack Babuka line on the ice against Cortland with the remainder of the IYHA PeeWee2 line in the background. Photo by Wendy Robbins.

With the score tied in the third,  the game continued with an up-tempo and physical pace with several players from both teams being sent to the penalty box, giving each team numerous power play opportunities.  Cortland was the first to score on a power play, pulling out to a one goal lead.  After several minutes of back and forth play,  Ithaca PeeWee 2 team was able to even up the score with a goal by Nic Whittaker assisted by Jack Babuka.

In a hard fought 3rd period,  Cortland scored a power play and even goal strength goal to pull away with a 2 goal lead that ended the contest at 5-3 in Cortland’s favor.   Two attempts at pulling goalie Ryan Besemer proved futile as the Cortland defense was able to stifle any charges into the Cortland defensive zone.   Ryan Besemer faced 23 shots for the day, stopping 18.

Ithaca PeeWee 2 plays its last two league games this weekend, traveling to Oswego on Saturday and hosting Skaneateles on Sunday at 11:00 at Cass Park.

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