By KEVIN OKLOBZJIA
Never is a long time, as anyone associated with the Hilton High School hockey program can attest.
Not only have the Cadets never won a Section V championship, they’ve never even played in the title game.
So when second-seeded Hilton dispatched of No. 6 Fairport in Thursday night’s Class A semifinals, 6-3, the unbridled joy among players and fans was justified.
The Cadets didn’t just sweep a monkey off their backs, they face-planted King Kong onto the ice at Lakeshore Hockey Arena.
“We made history,” goalie Lennon Suplicki declared as he embraced long-time coach Chris Monfiletto outside the dressing room. “But we’re not done.”
Indeed, Hilton (13-8-1) will finally play for a sectional title, with puck drop scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Monday at RIT’s Gene Polisseni Center. The opponent is top-seeded Pittsford, a 4-1 winner over Penfield in Thursday’s other semifinal.
“We just wanted to make history by making it to the sectional final,” sophomore forward Lucas Grizzanti said, “but now we’re hungry for even more.”
Grizzanti played a significant role in what certainly can be considered the program’s signature victory. His two third-period goals provided 4-1 and 5-2 leads, the second of which extinguished Fairport’s hopes of a comeback.
“There really are not any superlatives I can say to describe what he means to our team,” Monfiletto said.
Junior defenseman Liam Porter also scored twice – turning a 1-1 tie into a 3-1 lead in the final 4:21 of the second period – while sophomore forward Logan Driscoll and junior defenseman Luke Zelesnikar each scored once.
The Cadets also showed they were resilient. They trailed 1-0 after the first period, with Fairport senior forward Jack Gosiewski beating Suplicki with a perfect top-shelf wrister 11:43 into the game.
There wasn’t any panic for Hilton, however.
“We knew one goal wasn’t going to be too much to overcome, especially when this dude is in net,” Grizzanti said, referring to Suplicki.
The game’s unlikely offensive hero, Driscoll, then tied the score at 5:41 of the second period off a stretch-pass breakaway. His initial shot was stopped but he shoveled home the rebound for his first goal and first point as a varsity player in 21 games.
He was a team manager as a freshman and moved into the lineup this year. But he still didn’t always skate a regular shift. In fact, during a 4-3 double-overtime victory over Portside in the quarterfinals, Driscoll never got on the ice.
On Thursday, given a chance to play, he revived the sputtering Cadets offense.
“Really good coaching, huh?” Monfiletto deadpanned. “I didn’t play the kid for five periods. But this week in practice he looked awesome. And that really provided a spark. All these guys have known Logan forever.”
Once tied, the Cadets gained momentum quickly and eventually took their first lead when Porter moved in from the left point and fired a shot high past freshman goalie Blake Nelson at 12:39.
Just 3:50 later, Porter scored again, this time jumping up into the rush to sweep home Grizzanti’s centering pass off a two-on-one fast break.
“I think it hyped up the guys a lot,” Porter said of his two-goal quick strike. “It got our spirits up and we knew we had this.”
That feeling was fortified 1:20 into the third period when sophomore forward Parker Smith chipped the puck across the slot to Grizzanti, who zipped a backhander into the net for a 4-1 lead.
Except the Red Raiders (11-11-1) weren’t done. Sophomore forward Grant Ralston cut the deficit to 4-2 at 3:04 and then junior forward Corey Rene raced in alone on a breakaway at 5:49 for what could have been a game-changing goal.
Instead, Suplicki didn’t flinch and gloved the shot, by far the most important of his 26 saves.
“I feel like my breakaway game is pretty good, I practice it a lot,” he said. “I’m confident. I see him open up his blade and I’m saying, ‘He’s going to shoot it’ and then I just track it.’ ”
Said Zelesnikar: “Without him, none of this is possible.”
Grizzanti then scored the clinching goal for a 5-2 lead at 12:18 before the teams traded goals in the final 2:15.
“We had a tough time matching their intensity in the second period,” Fairport coach Chris Moretter said. “We started to find our game when we played with desperation.”
While losing is always difficult, Moretter believes the program took a big step forward. Seemingly always playing for a sectional title for the better part of a decade, the Red Raiders hadn’t been in the semifinals since 2020.
“Our seniors kind of changed the culture and bought into what we’re trying to accomplish,” Moretter said.
Hilton took an even bigger step – finally reaching the championship game.
“We feel like we’re not done yet,” Monfiletto said.
Said Porter: “We’re looking to win that brick.”
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