BY JONATHAN SKUZA
BRIGHTON, N.Y. — To make a deep playoff run in hockey, you have to have a hot goalie.
Portside Royal’s junior goaltender Danny Kucmerowski was just that for his team, as he stopped 34 shots to clinch a 4-1 victory over top-seeded Pittsford and a spot in the Class A title game.
”Sectionals come down to goaltending and when you have the hot goalie, you ride them,” Portside’s head coach Bill McGrath stated.
Kucmerowski saw all different kinds of shots throughout the night as the Panthers peppered him all game long. The junior goalie stood tall through thick and thin to help his team reach their first Class A sectional championship game appearance since the merge of Brockport and Spencerport three seasons ago.
”I came in doing everything I do,” Kucmeriowski said. “I got a lot of superstitions. I eat peanut butter and jelly before every game. I’m gonna get prepared on how I want to play.”
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The first period of the contest saw no scoring, but did see a goalie clinic between Kucmerowski and Pittsford’s net minder Wilson Szydlo as both goalies turned away grade a scoring chances. Shots were 12-4 in favor of the Panthers as they made Kucmerowski work.
The second period was a slightly different story as both teams were able to notch a goal.
Drew Ricketts found the back of the net for Pittsford early in the period when he was able to collect his own rebound and bury a shot past Kucmerowski to give the top-seeded Panthers the lead.
Sal Balbi tied the game for Portside late in the period after he was able to get a burst of speed in the neutral zone after a pass from Ryan Henchen and wire a shot off the post and into the Pittsford net to knot the contest at one.
Pittsford after two periods still heavily outshot Portside 26-11 in a game that was fast paced and for the most part evenly matched heading into the third period.
The third period was all Portside as the Royals connected three times. Senior forward Frank Grad buried two as he broke the 1-1 tie early in the final frame when put home a rebound top shelf and scored a power play goal late. Joseph Mallette assisted on the first tally while Zachary Haines and Balbi connected with Grad on the power play.
”It feels great,” Grad said. “Coming together as two schools three years ago was definitely a bit rough. We’re all used to being separate crosstown rivals, but the boys came together real nicely.”
”It’s been fantastic,” McGrath said “Just immense leadership in the locker room and on the ice. It’s just been fantastic. For me coming in as a brand new coach, it’s been an absolute blessing.”
Zachary Neu scored the other goal in the period as he ripped a shot from the point through traffic that was able to find the back of the net for the Royals.
Despite the disappointing end to their season, Pittsford’s coaches couldn’t have been happier with what the team had accomplished during the season.
“We had a great season where we won the league,” Pittsford’s head coach Steve Thering said. “We couldn’t get a bounce to go our way tonight. I thought we really controlled a lot of the play, we had a lot of great chances and we just continued to go to the net and we have been on the other side of that too.”
”I’m super proud of these guys,” Thering said. “I think we were ranked number one in the state, we won the league, so theres a lot for them to be proud of this year.”
Portside will look to capture the program’s first ever sectional title as a combined team between Brockport and Spencerport. The last time either team was featured in a sectional championship game was when Spencerport fell short in the 2019 Class B title game to Webster Thomas 5-2.
The Royals will look to build on their momentum to bring home a championship for the two schools.
”It would be huge for both schools and especially for the seniors on this team that were here from the beginning,” McGrath said. “They’re going in their third season now and it would be huge to finish that off.”
“A sectional final in our third year is absolutely huge,” Grad said. “Everyone loves it and we’d love to do it for our schools and finish it off.”
The No. 5 seed Portside Royals will look to finish the job as they will take on No.2 seed McQuaid on Monday, February 26 at Gene Polisseni Center at 8 p.m.
Great Game, lots of action at both ends but in the end it’s hard to beat a goalie playing at a .97% save percentage level.
Both teams came to play but as always, only one team can move forward to the next game.
Good Luck in the Championship Game
Go Portside Go Royals.