By KEVIN OKLOBZIJA
It was Senior Night for the Hilton Cadets at Lakeshore Hockey Arena on Tuesday evening, and each member of the Class of 2025 was recognized before the game.
The players, in turn, paid tribute to those who have provided support throughout their time in hockey and also shared their favorite team memory.
For all eight seniors, their most cherished moment on the ice came this season, during the second weekend of January, when the Cadets won a tournament at Lake Placid.
“That was the first trip as a team together and going there and winning the tournament, we’ll have those memories forever,” senior defenseman Joshua Anstett said.
Over the next month, however, they’re intent on creating a much more vivid forever memory: The first Section V championship in program history.
“That’s the goal,” senior forward Andrew Paolini said.
As the regular season winds down, the Cadets sport a 17-1 record following Tuesday’s 5-2 victory over Penfield. Over the final two regular-season games, they’re hoping to secure the No. 1 seed for the Section V tournament, which for Hilton will begin on Feb. 21.
And then it will be time to set aside regular-season supremacy and prepare to be the hunted.
“We have to run through a gauntlet of teams,” Hilton coach Chris Monfiletto said, “that have a legacy and history of knowing how to do it when the rubber hits the road.”
Or, in the case of the sectionals, when the vulcanized rubber hits the ice.
“We really do have to find another gear to do what we’re prepared to do,” Monfiletto said.
They never really hit top gear against Penfield (5-10-2). The Patriots played well, and often had the Cadets chasing the game instead of controlling it.
But timely scoring – and a first-period penalty shot save by goalie Barrett Paolini – enabled Hilton to prevail. Andrew Paolini and Aiden Kennedy scored goals 52 seconds apart midway through the first period to provide a 2-0 lead, and it became 3-0 on Hunter Huttemann’s power-play deflection of a Luke Zelesnikar point shot 59 seconds into the second period.
Penfield’s Rory Gately sliced the lead to 3-1 at 4:23 of the second but Zelesnikar scored twice before the period ended and the Cadets were comfortably ahead 5-1. Even if they didn’t play up to their own expectations.
“Penfield played very well,” Monfiletto said, “but this wasn’t one of our finest moments.”
Of course, it’s better to be a little off your game in early February than late February. And there’s nothing wrong with a little wake-up call before sectionals.
“We feel it’s our time now,” Monifeletto said. “We are a great hockey team, we are deep, and that’s what you need to win. But we have to turn up our game.”
This season to remember was expected. Two years ago, there were growing pains along with building blocks during an 8-12-1 season. Last year the Cadets went 14-6 but were bumped out of sectionals by Portside in the quarterfinals.
This year, with eight seniors plus talented underclassmen returning, expectations were high. So far, they’ve been met. Since a 4-2 loss to Pittsford on Dec. 3 in the third game of the season, Hilton has rattled off 15 consecutive victories and outscored opponents 90-21 in those 15 games.
“With each game we’ve grown more confident and we want to keep our momentum going,” Paolini said.
But they have more in mind. The Cadets have never won a Section V hockey championship. They haven’t even reached the finals (losing a dozen semifinal games over the years).
Which is why they’ve been on a mission this year to make school history.
“Coach keeps telling us to look at the banner in the gym – it’s blank,” Anstett said. “We want to hang one there.”
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