BY JONATHAN SKUZA
ROCHESTER, N.Y.– The first varsity goal is always a dream of young high school hockey players. Some score theirs early in their careers and others don’t find the back of the net until later into their high school tenure. Gavin Gudyka scored his first as a senior and helped Webster Schroeder to a 3-2 win over Brighton/HFL Saturday afternoon.
Gudyka’s goal came with 40 seconds remaining in regulation with the two teams deadlocked at two.
“That was his first varsity goal ever, and our entire bench erupted when that happened,” Webster Schroeder’s head coach Dave Broussard stated about Gudyka’s goal. “‘Goody’ is the leader we need on this team and he’s a great kid, and I’m so happy for him today.”
Webster and Brighton spent the first period feeling each other without scoring or penalties.
The game opened up in the second period when Brighton’s Trevor Reese broke the scoreless tie at the 11:15 mark. Under four minutes later Webster answered back with their second powerplay goal of the season from TJ Swinson.
The third period saw more action and drama. Brighton had a 5-on-3 powerplay early in the period and capitalized on it to regain its lead at the 13:25 mark. Schroeder came back for a second time tying the game with over five minutes to go. Will Lawton scored the tying goal.
Will’s goal was enormous,” Broussard stated. “He’s been knocking on the door all year. When he had that second goal that was huge for him personally, and for us to get what we need out of him.”
Gudyka did what every senior tries to do and come big when they are needed most and succeeded leading to the Warriors’ fourth victory of the season.
“It was a big win for our boys today,” Broussard said. “The resiliency was present. We went down twice and they just kept battling back. So our team is learning every day, every game, every shift really, and they learned some lessons tonight. What I’m happy about us is that they found it in themselves to pull it out today.”
The Warriors went a perfect 1-1 on the powerplay while Brighton went 1-4 with the man advantage.
Webster Schroeder (5-5-0) will return home to take on McQuaid on January 10.
Brighton/HFL (7-5-0) will go on the road to take on Fairport on January 10.
Leave a Reply