Ice Hockey Notebook: Somers/NS Takes Over at No.1 After Tying John Jay, 4-4
It’s beginning to look a lot like a down year for the vast majority of the local ice hockey clubs, unless of course Somers/North Salem is truly legit or Mahopac can right its rocky course. Somers/North Salem has beaten the teams one would expect them to beat while building an impressive 10-3-2 record, but it hadn’t played up in competition and beaten anybody that makes a hockey fan stand up and take notice until a 4-4 tie with previously undefeated John Jay Sunday night at the BIA.
Mahopac, on the other hand, has stepped up its competition, but the results against upper echelon D-I teams like Mamaroneck and Suffern have been less than spectacular. Indian Coach Chris Lombardo was banking on those experiences to pay some dividends against teams like John Jay, who defeated Mahopac handily by a 4-0 count last Friday.
“John Jay was a very good team and against good teams you can’t make a lot of mistakes like we did,” Mahopac Captain Brandon Fitzpatrick said of the Indians, who trailed 4-0 after two periods dominated by Jay’s Frazier Bostwick, who went for the hat trick. “When you do, as you saw, it turns in to goals. We didn’t play well in the second period, and we have to bring it for a full game and we didn’t tonight.”
Yorktown brought it Friday night in a 6-4 win over Brewster, and then left it all behind in a 7-0 debacle against Somers/North Salem, which clearly upset the Huskers, Captain Gunnar Boeschl in particular.
“We just had a terrible night,” the hard-hitting Boeschl said of the Huskers, who did some good work the night before against Brewster when Husker freshman Liam Donnelly held Brewster sniper Sean Henderson in check (2 assists) and Frank Gavigan (28 points) booked a hat trick. “There was maybe two tape-to-tape passes the whole night and that’s it. We could not pass, and no one was in position ever, so we could not break the puck out and the breakout is the most important thing, so that killed us. We were all tired and no one had any heart or effort whatsoever. It was embarrassing for everyone.”
It might get embarrassing for all the northern sector teams if we can’t pull it together in the final third of the season and start playing the kind of hockey that is more representative of the region by the time the playoffs come around. Have at it, my friends.
NWE/Putnam No Jive Top 5 Ice Hockey Poll
No.1 SOMERS/NORTH SALEM – Somers/NS (10-3-2, 7-1-2) has been getting big-time production from Mitch Lanyi (13G, 9A 22P), Noah Hale (8G, 5A, 13P) and David Rubenstein (16G, 11A, 27P), and the Sabers are now getting some complimentary help from guys like Mike Felton, Alex Sheehy, Wilson McCloy and Luigi Olinto, who have all logged double-digit points for the surging Sabers. That productivity produced a 4-4 tie with John Jay, which gives the Sabers the inside track to the League I-A title thanks to goals by Hale, McCloy, Rubenstein and Lanyi.
No.2 MAHOPAC – The Indians (7-5, 5-2) were not pretty in pink (kudos to Mahopac for its breast cancer awareness efforts) last Friday night, failing to cash in once against a superb John Jay defense, which manhandled Mahopac in its own zone. Mahopac has Somers head-to-head for now (until their Feb.8 rematch), but the Sabers’ tie with John Jay gives them top billing for now.
The rematch should determine who takes home the league flag. On a side note: I need more offensive production from Johnny Hangach (9G, 9A) and Brandon Fitzpatrick (8G, 7A) down the stretch.
No.3 LAKELAND/PANAS – The Rebels (9-4, 6-3) fattened up on Carmel with a pair of wins to run their win streak to three games. Conner Bubolo (20G, 20A) had a combined four goals and six assist against the Rams.
No.4 KENNEDY/PV – We were all set to bump K/PV (8-6-1) up to No.3 before a stunning 7-2 loss to a 4-10 Sleepy/Irvington club.
No.5 YORKTOWN – Good one night, sub-par the next two… the youthful Huskers (3-10) are at least a year away from being consistently good again. Huskers could be dirty in a year or two if they stick it out.
Ray has 33 years experience covering and photographing local sports in Westchester and Putnam counties, including everything from Little League/Travel Baseball to varsity high school prep sports and collegiate coverage. He has been a sports editor at Examiner Media since its inception in 2007.
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