By Dylan Butler
On Friday night, three weeks to the day of the debacle, Starace went from goat to hero, stopping 19 shots to lead Xavier to a 3-2 win at Abe Stark Arena on Coney Island.
“In the first game, we weren't ready,” Starace said. “I wasn't either and I was nervous as hell. But I knew I wanted this game, I wanted to win. I knew I had to do it. I was psyched.”
While Starace was spectacular to lead Xavier (4-1 CHSHL B), his teammates helped out a bit, staking the goaltender to an early 3-0 lead in the first 9:04 of the game.
“We tried, we did our best, but that was the game right there,” Turner said. “We made three bonehead mistakes and we had to go up the mountain.”
Astoria native James Kozua put the Knights ahead on the first shot of the game, as the junior defenseman walked in from the point and beat Prep junior goaltender James Black with a wrist shot between the circles 17 seconds into the game. Matt Nihan and Bill Strong picked up assists.
Belle Harbor resident Brian Kushner followed suit 4:28 later when he stole the puck in the neutral zone and walked in alone on Black, beating him low to give Xavier a 2-0 edge.
Sophomore Mike Pagano also found himself wide open in front of the net as he guided a rebound into the back of the net to give the Knights a commanding 3-0 lead with 5:56 left in the period. John Lee and Chris Christiano assisted on the goal.
St. Francis Prep (4-1 CHSHL B) had its lone bright spot of the first period 40 seconds later when Adam Discepolo banged in a rebound for the Terriers first goal of the game. James Bertorelli and Dan McClosky assisted on the goal. It was Discepolo's third goal of the year and his 10th point, placing him second in the 'B' division in scoring behind Ciro Terranova from Salesian, who has 11 points.
“We didn't have our heads in it right away,” Discepolo said. “We've been playing teams that are not on their level. You can't play like that against teams like [Xavier]. It didn't help going down 3-0.”
After a lackluster first period, the Terriers came back strong in the second, making it a one-goal game with 4:03 left in the period when McClosky's brilliant drop pass found the stick of Steve Cameron, who beat Starace with a wrist shot with five seconds left on a Prep power play to cut the Terriers deficit to 3-2.
In the third period, Prep pushed forward trying to net the equalizer. They peppered Starace, outshooting Xavier 8-2 in the stanza. But Starace saved some of his best work for last.
In what was certainly the save of the night, Bertorelli faked out Starace with some nifty stickhandling as the goalie slid down expecting a shot. Bertorelli's wrist shot looked destined to even the game at 3, but Starace somehow got back up and across the net to make the save 4:32 into the period.
“They cycled so well in front of the net that they were bound to get a couple good shots off in front,” Starace said. “One or two times they hit the post too, so I was happy about that.”
In the final two minutes of the game, the line of Discepolo, McClosky and Paul Desmond had three golden chances on one great shift, but Starace made three saves from point blank range to preserve the one-goal advantage.
“He played phenomenal, he kept them in the game,” Discepolo said of Starace. “It's hard to come back when he's playing that well. Their goalie was amazing.”
Kellenberg 8, Holy Cross 1. Bryan Benini scored the lone goal for the Knights on a penalty shot in the Firebirds lopsided victory Friday at Newbridge Road Rink in Bellmore. Holy Cross (2-4, 1-4 CHSHL A) was outshot 59-21 and Knights goaltender Adam Stuckey held Kellenberg to just three goals through the first two periods.
Holy Cross is scheduled to take on Queens rival Christ the King Saturday at the Ice Hutch in Mount Vernon. Face-off is slated for noon.
