Ithaca boys hockey wins second Section IV title

Last season marked the first-ever Section IV boys hockey championship game between Ithaca and Broome County. The Little Red made mostly light work of the Bulls with a 5-0 win. This year’s edition was a whole lot more dramatic but with the same end result.

The Little Red captured their second straight sectional title with a 5-4 victory over Broome County on March 2 at the SUNY Broome Ice Center. Entering the contest, the Little Red had won all five meetings in their history against the Bulls by a combined score of 32-10. But it was a much different story this time around as the Little Red had to twice rally from two-goal deficits.

“They played a strong structure,” said senior forward and captain Owen Simons. “They were pressuring us hard. They were getting pucks on net, good defense, passing it well. They had an all-around really good game, but it definitely surprised us. They played their best game that they played against us, but I’m glad our team could overcome that and be able to battle against that.”

Simons played an instrumental role in helping the Little Red pull off a remarkable comeback victory. Down 3-1 late in the second period, Simons managed to squeeze a shot in to make it a one-goal game heading into the second intermission. Ithaca found themselves down by a pair of goals again in the third period, but Simons lit the lamp on a five-on-three power play to make it 4-3 Broome County. Time was running out for the Little Red to find an equalizer, but with 1:21 to play, Leland Walker emerged as the hero to send the game into overtime.

“A big turning point was the tying goal from Leland Walker,” Simons said. “To this day, I don’t know how that went in, how his hand-eye [coordination] was that good to bat that puck with a minute-something left. But the composure he had was definitely a big turning point. We really believed that from there, we were in that game. From that line we were buzzing, I’d say. But that was definitely the biggest turning point in the game. It gave us a lot of juice to tie it up and gave us a big, big push to the end.”

Ithaca continued to face adversity in the extra period. The Little Red had to defend two Broome County power plays. As soon as they killed off the second penalty, there was some confusion on the bench as to who was coming on to the ice to restore even strength. Simons took it into his own hands to enter play, he was found all alone with only the goaltender to beat, and the rest is history.

“That’s the sort of stuff all these kids dream about,” Simons said. “I for sure did being able to look up to both my brothers. They were both on the IHS varsity team, as well. They were both captains. Being able to watch them grow up and then be able to finish off a Section IV  championship like this and hopefully keep going, that’s a story. That’s the most you could ask for. It’s at a loss for words sometimes.”

The championship hat trick was the icing on top of what’s been an outstanding final season for Simons. He led the team with 26 goals, 24 assists and 50 points and ended his illustrious career with 109 points. Simons attributed his success to his growing confidence over the years.

“I’ve been able to become more confident,” Simons said “ From being more confident, [I’ve] become a better leader to better the team. But having the leaders in the past, starting off my freshman year with my older brother [Eli] being my captain and the other senior leaders on that team and then continuing from there just having all the great leaders building up this program to be able to try to reach where we’re the best we can as a as a program. But it’s definitely my confidence and then being able to become a better leader as my confidence comes to me.”

Likewise, the Little Red as a whole grew with confidence throughout this season. After starting out strong with a 3-1 record, Ithaca lost its next six games, only to bounce back and win eight of the final nine games of the regular season. Facing so many state-ranked opponents along the way only helped them prepare for a tougher-than-expected showdown against the Bulls.

“We had a very hard schedule this year, so it was good to be battle-tested going into this game,” Simons said. “We obviously only have Broome in our section, so we didn’t have to go through a gauntlet of a section as much as some of these other ones.”

The victory meant another regional appearance for Ithaca back at the SUNY Broome Ice Center where they took on Section V champion Pittsford on March 8. While the Little Red fell in a tight 2-1 contest, that sectional final will undoubtedly live long in the memory of all those involved.