Warriors Win, Whitesboro That Is!

There’s not a lot of joy in Clinton today. The Whitesboro Warriors did a job on the Clinton Warriors in Friday night’s 3-2-E showdown at the Arena. The big surprise was not so much that Alex Yutzler got the start, the sophomore goaltender is really a good goalie, the surprise was that senior netminders David Ceeley and Ryan Bassett didn’t even dress.

Now, after telling you that Yutzler really is a good goalie, it would seem like an oxymoron to say that his letting in the first goal changed the entire flavor of the game. But, it did. That first goal came on the first shot of the game…just 20 seconds after the opening faceoff. Logan Schaaf picked up the puck after Clinton was turned away from the Whitesboro zone. Flying through the neutral zone, Schaaf let fly with a one timer that Yutzler handled by dropping with his pads. Notice I didn’t say stop, because all he did was slow it and the puck trickled under Yutzler and across the line. 1-0 Whitesboro and the Clinton Arena actually decompressed.

That goal changed everything. In what was expected to be a close game, it meant that Clinton would have to play come from behind hockey right from the start. It changed the way they attacked and as time went on…it changed the way they thought about the game. When Whitesboro made it 2-0 in the first period, on a long power play shot by Cooper Zielinski, you could start to see Clinton players shaking their heads as they went back to the bench on line changes. You could also see the frustration pick up as Clinton started to bang the body more, with little positive effect.

Whitesboro gave Clinton plenty of opportunities in the second period by sending many players to the penalty box. But, Clinton couldn’t catch up, in fact Whitesboro’s George Hajjar got the only goal if the period to give his Warriors a three goal lead going into the final 15 minutes.
As we have noted here before, the third period has not been kind to Clinton this season. But, the Warriors in whites came on in the final period to cut the warriors in blue’s lead to just 1. David Roy showed a great personal effort in muscling his way through the Whitesboro defense and getting one past Whitesboro’s Jack Lambe. Less than four minutes later, it was another act of strength that got Clinton to within 1. Chris “Boo” Snyder came from the corner and wearing a Whitesboro defenseman, got a shot off on Lambe. Kyle Foley was in place on the side of the net to take advantage of the rebound and the game was on…for 97 seconds. After that time elapsed, Nate Hughes got around the Clinton defense and put a shot over the shoulder of Yutzler and they played the clock out. 4-2 Whitesboro wins this early season test.

That’s what Clinton has to remember…this is an early season test, which means that there is plenty more season left. While 1-4 matches the record that Proctor has, it is also not as important as the 0-1 league record for Clinton. An 0-1 in the 3-2-E at this time is not the end of the world. These Warriors can get themselves on track Tuesday against Westmoreland.

As for the winning Warriors, you have got to be impressed with the way they didn’t get suckered into a battle of the body. They threw they weight around sure, but didn’t retaliate to the heavy hits Snyder, Foley and Cory Gogola administered. They move the puck well and were solid at the blue line. Mike Nassar say very little ice time over the last two periods.
Whitesboro goes to Proctor Tuesday night and will get a test Thursday when they host Cazenovia.

The Lakers beat CBA Friday night. In other 3-2-E team play Friday, Hamilton hammered Fulton 6-2…getting 4 goals split evenly between defensemen Nate Mallinder and Jannik Pedersen. New Hartford lost to unbeaten Fayetteville-Manlius 6-4.