PLAYOFF WIN! Underdog Garnets defeat Sailors!

http://ryeicehockey.stackvarsity.com/ 

Last night in the first round of the Section 1, Division 2 playoffs, at the Brewster Ice Arena the Rye Garnets (No. 10 seed at 9-9-2)) defeated the Hendrick Hudson Sailors (No. 7 seed at 13-7-0) by a score of 5-2 !  The Garnets advance to the second round of the Division 2 playoffs taking on the Pearl River Pirates tomorrow.

 The first period opened with  the Garnets scoring on their first shot of the game as Andrew Urbanczyk buried the puck assisted by Will Hynson and Griffin Tutun. The Sailors responded to keep it even with a goal of their own a minute later. The period ended tied 1-1, despite Rye dominating for most of the period and outshooting Hendrick Hudson 11-3.

 Rye got into penalty trouble near the end of the second period, getting called for two back to back infractions. After getting two great shorthanded chances, the Garnets let Hendrick Hudson sneak down the left side unchecked and the Sailors finally scored on their second power play to take a 2-1 lead with two minutes left in the period.  The inflection of the game was about to happen; one minute later Rye responded and Connor McGovern scored to tie the game 2-2 with one minute left in the second frame, assisted by Derek Mullane.  Instead of ending the second period down 2-1 (after dominating  for 29 minutes, outshooting the Sailors 18-8 at that point), and going into the locker room deflated by a goal against in the final two minutes of the period, they took the momentum back!

 Building on the momentum from the end of the second period, the third period was the Connor Hatch / Jack O’Brien show! Again Rye dominated the beginning of the period but could not score. The longer the Sailors hung around the more dangerous it was for the Garnets. Then with score still  tied 2-2 and after killing off another Hendrick Hudson power play (how did they get three power plays and Rye get none?) at the six minute mark Connor Hatch crashing the net scored with an assist from Jack O’Brien. Rye had the lead for the first time since the beginning of the game. Like they have for much of the season the goals came successively and quickly in the third period for the Garnets. With three minutes left in regulation, Jack O’Brien alone in the offensive zone and with great individual effort, controlled the puck as he waited for his line mates to get on the ice. Connor Hatch returned the favor by rushing into the offensive zone and assisted on Jack’s ensuing goal – the Garnets now had a 4-2 lead! Jack’s goal  took the wind out of Hendrick Hudson’s sails (yes finally, pun intended!) and helped earn Jack ‘O’Brien the “player of the game “ selection from Coach Friesen. The final nail in the Sailor’s coffin came with one minute left when Connor Hatch scored again and Derek Mullane got his second assist. The Garnets had scored three goals in the final frame and held Hendrick Hudson off the score board (allowing only 6 shots in the period).

 This was a great team win; not only did the offense score 5 goals, but the defensive held the Sailors to 14 shots and 2 goals, and kept their top two goal scorers off the score sheet.

 The Garnets are off to the Sport O Rama rink in Monsey, NY tomorrow (Wednesday February  19) at 7:30pm for a second round playoff game versus the Pearl River Pirates (No. 2 seed at 16-3-1). 

 The Garnets are a dangerous “underdog” team this year – beating the No. 2 and eliminating the No. 7  Division 2 ranked teams in their last two games. Come out and cheer your Garnets on – there is  nothing like Varsity playoff hockey!  Go Garnets!