By KEVIN OKLOBZIJA
When the season began, the Aquinas Institute hockey team believed they had all the ingredients necessary to win the school’s first Section V title in 16 years.
Li’l Irish players were intent on being the team that finally brought the championship block back to Dewey Avenue.
Now, however, there’s an even greater driving force than simply personal pride. The Li’l Irish are out to win it all for “Mr. Nuch.”
John Nuccitelli, for decades the godfather of Aquinas hockey, died earlier this month at the age of 84. His passing left a void within the AQ hockey family, but the Li’l Irish continue to honor his memory every game. Instead of player names on the back of the hockey sweaters, each one says Mr. Nuch.
“Mr. Nuch did so much for the AQ hockey program, he made us what we are,” senior captain C.J. Mangone said. “This season is a tribute to him.”
The second-seeded Li’l Irish moved one step closer to their goal on Wednesday night, defeating No. 3-seed Webster Schroeder 6-5 in overtime in the Section V Class B semifinals at Lake Shore Hockey Arena.
Ares Miller, an eighth-grader, scored the winning goal just 44 seconds into overtime, triggering on-ice pandemonium for the AQ players.
The goal, on a shot from the left wing during a quick-developing fastbreak, brought an instant end to an instant classic and gave Miller his first hat trick as a high school player.
“I just got the puck and buried it,” Miller said.
🚨 Game-winning goal in OT. @aquinaspuck #MrNuch https://t.co/u26T6KBq1f
— Anthony Cook, Ed.D. (@AQPresidentCook) February 24, 2022
Not that he had a chance to see his shot cross the goal line. Just as he released the shot, he was knocked to the ice by the check of a Schroeder defender.
“I was sliding down the ice on my back and then I looked and saw the puck in the net,” Miller said.
Said Aquinas coach Chuck Dossier, whose team improved to 16-5-1: “You’d never think he’s an eighth-grader, that he just turned 14.”
The title of OT hero for Miller won’t last long, though. His status as an eighth-grader among older teammates won’t change come practice on Thursday.
“I’ll still have to fill the water bottles,” he joked.
Miller’s goal came just moments after defense partner, Anthony Terrana, thwarted a one-on-one attack by Jason Simons, Schoeder’s leading scorer. Terrana refused to let Simons power past him, angling him to the outside before driving him off the puck.
Two passes later and the Li’l Irish were racing into the Warriors zone for the winning goal.
“That was a very nice play,” Dossier said of Terrana’s defensive effort. “Then again, he needed to make up for taking the penalty that led to the tying goal.”
With Terrana in the penalty box for interference, Schroeder’s Gunnar Bolton spun in the deep slot and swept in the rebound with 6:29 remaining in the third period.
There had been two lead changes in the final period. The Warriors (10-11-1) had trailed 3-1 after the first period but finally took their first lead, 4-3, when Bogdan Stoliar converted on a Simons’ rebound at 2:32 of the third period.
“We didn’t have a good start and Aquinas brought it,” Schroeder coach Steve Parshall said. “But we have a lot of great seniors and they battled. They weren’t going to give up.”
The Li’l Irish tied the score 4-4 on the next shift, just 16 seconds later, when Connor Carey buried a centering pass from William Kennard.
Aquinas went back on top at 5:12 on Miller’s second goal of the game, this one on a wrister from the high slot that sailed into the net just under the cross bar.
But the Lil Irish couldn’t hold off Schroeder on the late power play and the game went to overtime.
“I told our team at the start of overtime, ‘It’s going to happen quick, we just have to be the team that makes it happen,’ ” Dossier said.
And as joyous as the celebration was following overtime goal, it was evident merely reaching Sunday’s 1 p.m. title game at SUNY Brockport’s Tuttle Ice Arena against perennial Section V Class B powerhouse Webster Thomas doesn’t provide satisfaction.
“Obviously we’re not done yet, we have one more to get, and that’s what the kids were saying afterward, that came from them,” Dossier said.
“Mr. Nuch’s loss was tough, he was the heart and soul of our program, and I know the kids are working hard, trying to get it done for him.”
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