Rivalry Weekend
U-19’s Take 2 of 3
After closing out the month of November by sweeping the Green Mountain Glades in Vermont the Hitmen U-19 team took the weekend off to celebrate the Thanksgiving Holiday. After a solid week of practice the boys entered December with a stretch of 3 games in 4 days against two of their biggest rivals. First on the table was a two game set with the Boston Jr Bruins before a Tuesday afternoon tilt with instate rival, the New Jersey Titans.
The Bruins came to town sporting a gaudy record of 20-6-1 overall and 17-2-4 in league play. Good enough told hold a comfortable first place cushion in the Empire Junior Hockey League’s Atlantic Division. This weekend would mark the 2nd and 3rd meetings of the season between these two clubs, the first going the way of the Hitmen by a final score of 3-1.
The weekend got off to a rough start for the U-19’s as Assistant Captain Connor Leen would be lost to a broken tibia while playing for his high school Friday night and will undergo surgery to insert pins on Thursday. “We are not sure how long Connor will be out, but one thing we know is you can’t replace a player like Connor.” Commented coach Barling. “He’s a guy that can play in every situation; we will especially miss his creativity in the offensive zone and his leadership both on and off the ice. While it is a very unfortunate situation we have to go forward with what we have. We still have a good team and look forward to being successful the rest of the year. Hopefully, Connor can recover quickly and be able to contribute to that success later in the season.” Kenny Pilanski will assume the responsibility of Assistant Captain in Leen’s absence.
On Saturday the U-19’s would prove just how resilient they are. In their first game in nearly two weeks, and first without Leen the Hitmen came out on fire and would strike just 27 seconds into the game when Kenny Pilanski would bang home the rebound off a Chris Tamminga shot to take a 1-0 lead. However, the lead would not last long. At the 15:08 mar the Bruins would tie the score at 1 when Frankie Vatrano beat Matt Braun through the five-hole on a feed from Tyler Bouchard. The period would provide some intense end to end action before the Bruins broke through again at 4:54 when Bruins defenseman Steve Ginand fired one home from the slot, assisted by Zach Sandonato. The Bruins would go into the locker room holding a 2-1 lead and an 11-10 advantage in shots.
The second period would see the U-19’s regain some of their magic and once again struck quickly. On the third shift of the period Captain Vinny Lopes would carry the puck up ice before dumping it softly behind the Bruin net. Michael Conte would provide a tenacious forechecking effort, creating a turnover before finding Nick Lotito in the slot. Lotito would send a backhander past the outstretched glove of Bruins goaltender Petie Von Rosenvinge at the 18:14 mark to tie the contest at 2. Continuing to put in an honest days work the U-19’s would once again take the lead at 7:07 of the period led by the relentless forechecking efforts of Noah Duguay and Mark Powell. After winning an extended battle to the right of the Bruins net Duguay would feed Andrew Serpico cruising through the slot. Serpico would whistle snap snot over Von Rosenvinge’s glove for the 3rd Hitmen goal of the afternoon. The U-19’s would hold the same 3-2 lead heading into the locker room with just 20 minutes to play.
True to form on this afternoon the U-19’s would strike early in the third period. Lopes would provide an excellent individual effort and give the home team some breathing room when he scored 25 seconds into the period to give the Hitmen a 4-2 lead. After the Lopes goal both teams would take a much more defensive mindset throughout most of the third. However, in a final push to draw even the Bruins would pull their goaltender with just over a minute remaining. The U-19 held strong throughout most of the Bruins onslaught, but would yield a Ross McMullan goal with just 4.5 seconds remaining. Assists would go to Dan Szerlip and Rockey Sweeney. Despite being outshot on the afternoon 28-21 the Hitmen would leave the building with a 4-2 victory behind timely scoring and a solid effort in net from Matt Braun.
Sunday would see the Bruins draw first blood at 13:21 when Matt Manzella would light the lamp with assists going to Ginand and Sweeney. The Hitmen would not stay down for long though. Just over a minute later Lopes would draw the U-19’s even on a feed from Ali Thomas. The remainder of the period would be controlled by the Bruins as they would strike twice on nearly identical plays. The first goal would come off the stick of Brian Morgan who worked a give and go from the right corner before beating Alex Effinger just inside the far post. A little over five minutes later Manzella would record his second goal of the day beating Effinger over the glove on a shot from the right hash mark. The Bruins would outshoot the Hitmen by a margin of 16-5 in the first frame.
The second period saw scoreless action and an 8-8 tie in shots. The third period however, saw the scoring pick up once again. At 17:40 Logan Romano would beat Effinger with assists going to Sandonato and Cody Learned. Ali Thomas would answer back two minutes later on the power play when he snuck a snap shot between the arm and body of Bruins netminder Tyler Holske. David Rose and Christian Meiley would pick up assists on the play. As the end to end action continued the Bruins would once again find the back of the net at the 12:21 mark on a goal from Derek Stahl with the assist going to Kevin McKernan. Kenny Pilanski would answer for the home club at 9:12 when he tickled the twine courtesy of a Chris Tamminga assist. However, on this day the Bruins would prove too much for the Hitmen to handle as Sandonato would cap the scoring with just over two minutes to play on a feed from Zach Luczyk. Effinger made 29 saves while taking the 6-3 loss for the home club.
After taking Monday to recover the Hitmen were back at it Tuesday taking on the New Jersey Titans in a rare weekday contest. The Titans came into Tuesday’s action sitting in second place in the Metropolitan Junior Hockey League’s Mullen Division with a league record of 15-4-0-2.
With a short bench the U-19’s took a little while to get going, but finally cracked Titans goaltender Jeff Holbrook with 3:15 remaining in the first frame. While shorthanded Kei Toeda would block a shot from the Titans defender. Scott Steinel would pick up the loose puck and hit Toeda as the two flew the neutral zone. After crossing paths just outside the Titan blueline Toeda would draw the lone Titans defender in his direction before sliding the puck back to Steinel who fired a one-timer through Holbrook’s five-hole. The period would end with the U-19’s holding a 1-0 lead and an 18-11 advantage in shots.
The second period saw an explosion of offense as the two teams combined for 7 goals. The line of Ali Thomas, David Rose, and Anthony Daniels turned into a point producing machine as the three would combine for 11 points in the final two periods. Rose got the ball rolling as he would hammer an Ali Thomas feed through the legs of Holbrook at 15:55 of the second to put the home club up 2-0. The U-19’s got a little too comfortable with that lead and would surrender three goals in a 4 minute and 30 second span, the first coming off the stick of Jesse Krauss assisted by Mike Piet and Chris Wollerman. Shortly after, Wollerman would find the back of the net with Piet picking up his second assist on the night. The final goal of the Titans flurry came with Bobby Deatrick taking a few mighty whacks at a rebound created by a Casey Jouaneau shot at the 9:44 mark of the second. The U-19’s who gain their composure and create some fireworks of their own before the end of the period. The first goal would come off the stick of Kenny Pilanski. Scott Steinel would reach a loose puck at the offensive blueline and send the puck in deep. Defenseman Craig Wyszomirski jumped up in the play and beat the Titans defender to the loose puck. He would slide a pass to Pilanski streaking down the slot and burying the Wyszomirski feed past the blocker of Holbrook to bring the U-19’s back to even. Less than a minute later David Rose would bang home his second of the game as he would convert the rebound of an Anthony Daniels shot to put the home club up 4-3. With Wyszomirski off for hooking Vinny Lopes would intercept a Titans pass in the neutral zone before quickly transitioning the puck up to Rose. Rose would cross the blueline before finding a late joining Ali Thomas who ripped a snap shot over the glove of Holbrook putting the Hitmen up 5-3 heading to the second intermission. The U-19’s enjoyed a 22-9 advantage in shots in the second period.
The third period saw the Titans draw within a goal on two separate occasions. At 18:29 Jesse Krauss scored an unassisted goal, his second of the game. Scott Steinel would answer Krauss’ second goal of the contest with a second of his own at 7:38 of the third. Chris Tamminga would pick up the assist. Bobby Deatrick responded with his second goal of the contest at the 4:59 mark with Krauss chipping in the assist. Not to be outdone by his linemates Anthony Daniels would collect the next two Hitmen tallies in a span of 18 seconds both assisted by Ali Thomas. The U-19’s would cap the scoring when Daniels, under pressure, would make an excellent pass to Scott Steinel who promptly slid the puck into the empty Titans net to complete his first junior hat trick with 43 seconds remaining. Matt Braun made 27 saves in the 9-5 victory.
The U-19’s will be back in action this weekend as they travel south to take on Team Maryland in a two game set, before heading to Boston the following weekend for the Boston Junior Rangers tournament.
Notes: The U-19’s are 7-3 in their last ten games…Ali Thomas, David Rose, Anthony Daniels, Scott Steinel, and Vinny Lopes all contributed multi-point games this past weekend…Team Maryland is the only team to shutout the U-19’s this season claiming a 4-0 victory back in September.