AQUINAS JUMPED OUT TO 5-0 LEAD BEFORE CRUSING TO 6-2 WIN OVER WFL

Feb 8, 2024

For the past few months, the Rochester Americans have been front and center on the local high school hockey scene as part of a weekly series featuring the latest news and notes, scores and stats of select Section V games around the Greater Rochester Area.

 

The Aquinas Lil Irish (8-10-2) jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the second period against the WFL Panthers (5-10-4) before cruising to a 6-2 victory Wednesday night at Lakeshore Arena.

 

The Lil Irish improved to 5-0-1 in their last six games versus the Panthers since the start of the 2022-23 campaign, which also featured a pair of wins this season. In addition to outscoring the Panthers 8-4 in the two games in 2023-24, Aquinas outshot WFL 119-50.

 

Aquinas was paced during Wednesday’s final regular season contest by Mike Dossier’s five-point (3+2) outing, while Connor Carey (0+4) also turned in a multi-point effort. Caleb Wood, Tyler Day, and Ryan Whitney all scored one goal apiece while Jack Davila, Jonathan Blankenburg, and Ares Miller posted an assist.

 

Goaltender Reagan Gray (7-10-2), who made his 19th appearance of the season, stopped 19 of the 21 shots he faced to earn the win.

 

Ryan Allen registered a pair of goals for WFL while Parker Lawton and Sean Allen each had one assist. Netminder Seth Taylor (3-3-3) made a career-high 50 saves but suffered the defeat in the crease.

 

Since Jan. 22, the Panthers, who have one game left in the 2023-24 slate, have gone 0-3-2 after a pair of wins where they outscored the opposition 10-2.

 

After drawing a power play 39 seconds into Wednesday's tilt, Aquinas opened the scoring immediately following the ensuing faceoff as Wood finished off Dossier’s feed with 16:11 in the frame.

 

The Lil Irish dominated the pace of play for the reminder of the period after Wood’s marker as they outshot the Panthers 20-6.

 

Prior to the completion of the first period, Dossier pushed Aquinas’ lead with 15 seconds left to play.

 

Aquinas used the late-goal momentum after the intermission break by scoring three more goals to grab a 5-0 cushion at the 11:26 mark, which featured Day’s marker 35 seconds into the stanza.

 

Along with Day, Whitney and Dossier both scored at the 7:51 and 11:26 marks for the Lil Irish while Carey and Blankenburg tallied an assist, respectively.

 

Ryan Allen trimmed WFL’s deficit to 5-2 as he scored late in the second period and in the first two minutes of the final frame of regulation, however, Dossier sealed the 6-2 win with his third of the night shortly afterwards.

 

While Aquinas’ regular season is completed, the Panthers will close out theirs on Friday, Feb. 9 against Canandaigua Academy at Canandaigua Civic Center for a 7:00 p.m. tilt.