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William Montgomery
The Record

COLONIE – Guilderland and Shaker-Colonie squared off in the championship game of the inaugural Albany County Hockey Cup on Saturday night and the tournament is off to a legendary beginning. The Dutchmen dominated the first period, but Shaker-Colonie retalalited in the second to knot the score at 2 heading into the final stanza.
With 2:19 remaining in the third period, Guilderland’s Dan Dickinson threw a shot on net and Shaker-Colonie goaltender Jim Lanne pinned the puck to the ice with the handle of his stick. Aaron Cahill pried it loose and put it past Lanne for the game-winning goal, the Dutchmen adding an empty-netter for a 4-2 victory and initial possession of the Albany County hockey crown.
“I saw it at the last minute and thought I’d tap it in,” grinned Cahill. “I’m kind of happy to do that, it got our team started up and changed the momentum a little bit.”
The momentum was all Guilderland’s in the first period. Dan Dickinson scored twice, picking up two assists from Greg Warnken. Shaker-Colonie simply had no energy and offered little physical resistance to the Dutchmen in front of the net.
Dickinson’s first goal came as he slid across the front of the net and ripped a wrister past Lanne. On his second goal, Dickinson moved to his right as the puck bounced towards him, flicking a backhanded drive into the net.
“Greg was setting me up perfect,” Dickinson said. “I put them away.” Dickinson picked up 4 goals on the tournament, assisting on two others. He was involved in every Guilderland goal of the weekend except Collin Burg’s open-net tally in the championship game. Dickinson and goaltender Brendan Glennon were the two Dutchmen named to the all-tournament team.
“It seems like (Dickinson is) there at the right time, but it’s really not by coincidence,” Guilderland head coach John De Rubertis said of junior forward. “He’s got a nose for it. Certainly an all-tournament player, no doubt about it.”
Glennon also had a solid evening between the pipes, buckling down after allowing two goals to the Jets in the second period.
“I kind of had a rough second period,” Glennon said. “I tried to make up for it in the third. It felt good, that my team was behind me. They came back and won the game for me.”
De Rubertis was excited about the progress his senior netminder has made over the past two seasons.
“(Glennon) had such an improvement last year, which was his first year as a starter,” De Rubertis said. “He grew quite a bit. He has really solidified the position, though he’s still working on his positing and angles. But he’s ready, pulling out the Ws for his team.”
The Jets stormed back in the second period, playing an inspired and physical period. Seth Clickner scored Shaker-Colonie’s first goal after intercepting an errant Dutchmen pass on the defensive end, a cannon of a slapshot from the top of the circle trickling past Glennon.
DJ O’Connell replied with a big shot of his own, the goal coming off a Shaker-Colonie dump into the offensive zone, catching Glennon off-guard. Mike McCloskey assisted an O’Connell’s goal. O’Connell was also named all-tournament.
“We thought we had it and it was over with,” Warnken said of the Dutchmen’s flat effort in the second period. His goaltender echoed those sentiments.
“The second period we came out, I think it was a 2-0 lead and we thought we had them,” said Glennon. “We came out in the third, and (said to ourselves) we’re going to win this because we want to go into sectionals with a win.”
Although Guilderland captured the first-ever Albany County Cup, the games did not influence sectional seedings or standings. The Dutchmen, however, were more than pleased to come away with a victory. Confidence from the late rally promises to carry over into their first round sectional game against Saratoga on Tuesday.
“We wanted to work hard 24/7, but it got to our heads that this wasn’t for anything,” Cahill said of the team’s lack of motivation in the second period. “Then it came to our heads that this was for something - we wanted the cup.”
“It felt great,” Dickinson said of hoisting the cup over his head after the game. “I went on a victory lap and everything. It’s a big tournament and we got the W.”
Bethlehem defeated CBA 1-0 in the consolation game, with Eagles’ goalie John Remmel recording the shutout and earning a spot on the all-tournament team.

GUILDERLAND 4, SHAKER-COLONIE 2
SHAKER-COLONIE (8-13-3) 0 2 0 - 2
GUILDERLAND (12-9-1) 2 0 2 – 4
First Period – 1, G Dan Dickinson (Greg Warnken, Robby King) 3:15, 2, G Dickinson (Warnken, Collin Burg) 11:46
Second Period – 3, SC Seth Clickner (unassisted) 3:38 4, SC DJ O’Connell (Mike McCloskey) 10:11
Third Period – 5, G Aaron Cahill (Nick Koss, Dickinson) 12:31 6, G Burg (empty net, unassisted) 14:53