Quakers Stay Hot With a Victory Against Fox Lane

Even though the Fox Lane hockey team found itself already trailing by three goals after one period on Saturday evening, there was something to look forward to at the start of the second.
The penalty box for the host Horace Greeley Quakers was a bit crowded.
With a chance to skate with a five-on-three advantage, the Foxes had a big opportunity to get right back in the game. In an instant, though, the opportunity vanished as the Quakersâ Ryan Renzulli burst out of the defensive zone, carrying the puck down the left wing. He got to the blue line, skated to his right and then sent a shot past goalie Will Brunner, all but assuring there would be no Fox Lane revival.
âIn my eight years of coaching high school,â said Quakers head coach Dan Perito afterwards, âI canât remember scoring down two men. I canât speak for them, but I know for us if youâre up and then they score shorthanded, thatâs demoralizing.â
Renzulliâs shorthanded goal was soon followed by two more from the Quakers, who went on to an 8-2 victory over the Foxes on Senior Night at the Brewster Ice Arena. Dillon Rusiecki, Jake Potter and Dylan Mutkoski each finished with a pair of goals as suddenly red-hot Greeley won for the seventh time in its last eight games.
âYou never know after going through all the pregame stuff, breaking from routine, how theyâll come out,â said Perito about his Senior Night concerns. âI wasnât really pleased with the warmup. But we came out possessing the puck, working the forecheck. We were able to get some pucks down low and get some shots, get some goals early to kind of ease into it. Once you get that, you can kind of settle in and breathe. Thatâs always important.â
The game was just 90 seconds old when Liam Whitehouse, on an assist from Renzulli, got the Quakers on the scoreboard. Fox Lane soon had two good chances to even the contest, but Eric Maiorano was thwarted in front of the net by Greeley goalie Arye Wolberg and then, 15 seconds later, Jared Goldsteinâs redirected shot from just left of the cage rolled tantalizingly all the way across the crease behind Wolberg before it was cleared away.
Just past the midway point of the first period, Potter poked the puck past the Foxesâ Brunner to give Greeley a 2-0 lead. Then with 4:32 to go in thet period, and the Foxes just five seconds away from killing off a Quaker power play, Rusiecki found himself with the puck in front of the net. He easily deposited it into the wide open right side, stretching the Quakersâ cushion to 3-0.
But the period ended with both Whitehouse and Tyler Kay in the penalty box and the Foxes on the hunt with a two-man advantage. Just as Whitehouseâs penalty was ending early in the second period, the Quakersâ Evan Scott was whistled for cross checking. With another 46 seconds to skate with a two-man advantage, Fox Laneâs prospects suddenly looked a bit brighter.
Renzulliâs shorthanded goal in the opening minute of the second period immediately took away whatever momentum the Foxes were building. Instead of narrowing the deficit, they suddenly trailed by four goals.
âYou know, Iâve seen it before,â said Fox Lane coach Charles Berger of the goal by Greeley despite being down two players. âWhen youâre on the umbrella, thatâs one of the challenges you have because if they chip it by, they can go. It doesnât matter if itâs five on three or five on four. I thought the power play got chances. We didnât finish. Their goalie played very well.â
About four minutes after Renzulliâs momentum-changing goal, the Quakers struck again, this time on their own power play, as Potter tipped in the rebound of a shot by Rusiecki. Then with 8:18 to go in the second period, Mutkoski came around the back of the net and slipped the puck into the near corner, enabling Greeley to build its lead to 6-0.
Late in the period, the two teams got into a skirmish behind the net the Foxesâ Brunner was patrolling. The game was held up for over five minutes as penalties were doled out to three players.
âItâs a rivalry game with Fox Lane,â said Perito. âSo I gave them a heads up last night and then today before the game. And then as the game started, âDonât get caught up in anything extra after the whistle. You get tossed for a fighting penalty, then youâre out for the next three games.â Two of those games are gonna be playoff games for us.â
A minute into the third period, Rusiecki tallied his second goal of the evening to give Greeley a 7-0 advantage. Late in the game, the Foxes managed to get on the board with goals from freshman Charlie Della Penna and then Maiorano 57 seconds apart before Mutkoski closed the nightâs scoring with his second goal.
The loss to Greeley concluded a busy week for the Foxes that was highlighted by last Mondayâs visit to the Barclays Center in downtown Brooklyn, where they skated against Pearl River before an Islanders game.
âAbsolutely incredible,â said Berger of the experience. âSo happy we were able to do it. You know, even I got big-eyed walking in there. The stadiumâs so gorgeous and the ice is amazing. The kids just skated real hard and fought. Every kid had a smile on their face and had a really good time. Iâd suggest it to every team. Go play in one of these professional arenas that allow it. What an experience.â
The Foxes wonât be playing at the Barclays Center again, but they can look forward to something else this coming week.
âWell, weâre in the playoffs, which is a huge step for the program,â said Berger. âAfter two wins last year, weâre going to the playoffs. We know weâre gonna have a tough opponent, but weâre gonna be ready to go.â

Andy is a sports editor at Examiner Media, covering seven high schools in the mid-Westchester region with a notebook and camera. He began there in the fall of 2007 following 15 years as a candid photographer for the largest school picture company in the tri-state area.
Read more of Andy’s full bio here.
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