And then, something clicked.
The Knights, who dressed just 10 skaters,…
By Dylan Butler
Trailing 1-0 after two periods at Iceland in New Hyde Park, the Holy Cross hockey team was 15 minutes away from losing its second game in four days to Queens rival Christ the King.
And then, something clicked.
The Knights, who dressed just 10 skaters, scored three unanswered goals in the third period to defeat the Royals, 3-1. It was just Cross’ second win in 12 games this year.
“I told them in the locker room that they showed a lot of heart and a lot of guts,” Holy Cross head coach Mike Mitchell said. “If they played like this the rest of the year, we’d be right in the middle of the playoff hunt.”
The formula for success in the third was quite simple — the Knights put players in front of the CK goal and stuffed the rebounds into the net.
Jonathan Price tied the game at 1 on a rebound in front of the net on an assist from Mark Goetzger with 11:06 left in the period. Holy Cross (2-10 CHSHL A) then put the game away with two goals in a span of 1:05. Bryan Benini scored from Pat McHugh and Goetzger and Steve Fonovich found the back of the net from Mike Vohs.
Chris Keegan scored the lone goal for Christ the King (4-6-3). Joe Kemerson and Jakub Kubrak assisted on the tally.
“We played pretty solid through two periods, but we tried to go for goals and went away from the game plan,” Royals head coach Pat Boller said. “They just played harder than us.”
Holy Cross goaltender Adam Stuckey, who represented the Knights in the Senior All-Star Game at Madison Square Garden Sunday, was superb. Holy Cross was outshot 38-18, but the Flushing native made 37 saves to help clinch the victory.
“He was fantastic,” Mitchell said. “I think he was still on a high from playing at the Garden Sunday.”
Holy Cross takes on St. Edmund Friday at 10 p.m. at Abe Stark Arena on Coney Island while Christ the King faces off against Mount St. Michael Saturday at 8:15 p.m. at the Ice Hutch.
<b>Christ the King 7, Holy Cross 4.</b> The Royals scored four third period goals — three on the power play — to come from behind to defeat Holy Cross Saturday at the Ice Hutch in Mount Vernon.
Fresh off working on the power play in practices last week, the Royals put what they learned to good use, as Mike Rizzo scored on a 5-on-3 advantage to tie the score at 4.
Christ the King finally took the lead with 10:58 left in the game when Kemerson scored to put the Royals ahead, 5-4.
Bobby Glade found the back of the net 53 seconds into another power play as the Royals went ahead, 6-4. Greg Cutrone capped the scoring with 4:58 left in the game.
Benini scored twice in the first period and McHugh added another, as Cross took a 3-1 lead. Glade scored the Royals lone first period goal.
Both teams scored with the man advantage in the second period, as Rizzo found the back of the net 1:54 into the stanza and Goetzger scored with 6:07 left in the second period.
<b>Bishop Ford 9, McClancy 3.</b> Matt Clark netted a hat trick and David Kuperszmid added two to lead Bishop Ford (2-8-2 CHSHL B) last Thursday at Murray Rink in Yonkers. John Mascetti, Anthony DeMarco and James Lynch scored for McClancy (5-8 CHSHL B). The Crusaders take the ice again Thursday at Murray Rink against Xavier. Face-off is at 5:15 p.m.
Reach Associate Sports Editor Dylan Butler by e-mail at Timesledgr@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 143.
