By Dylan Butler
There was still more than 2 1/2 periods left to play and eight more goals to be scored, but the defining moment of the CHSHL B division game between Archbishop Molloy and Mount St. Michael Friday occurred not long after the puck dropped.
With the Stanners leading 1-0, Mount St. Michael had two golden opportunities to tie the game up, but T.J. Regan was stopped by Molloy goaltender Mike Koenig and John Franek slotted the puck wide of an open net in a 1:19 span.
The two missed chances were monumental for a Mount St. Michael team whose psyche is already fragile after not having won a game all season.
Less than a minute later, the Stanners made it 2-0. Nine seconds after that, it was 3-0 Molloy as the Stanners cruised to a 7-2 victory at Rye Playland.
“You don’t get many chances like that and you have to capitalize on them when you get them,” said Mount St. Michael coach Jim Clarke. “Our coaching staff made it clear to them that they have to seize their opportunities.”
Molloy head coach Richie Rodgers can sympathize with Clarke. All year he begged his players to get their shots on net. But in several one-goal losses and disappointing ties, many of the Stanners’ shots still caromed wide of the intended target.
Against the struggling Mountaineers, Molloy (4-5-3) had no problem getting its shots on net as the Stanners peppered Mike Greanley, the Mount’s defenseman-turned-goaltender, to the tune of 45 shots, 26 more than Koenig faced.
“We played our positions better. It’s just simple stuff, shoot low, get rebounds and score garbage goals,” Rodgers said. “This was a game we needed to win because we want to make the playoffs.”
One of the best examples of playing good, positional hockey was third line forward Bryan Elfant. The freshman from Belle Harbor netted the Stanners’ first two goals and added a pair of assists in the win.
“I’m not the fastest player and I don’t have the greatest shot, I was just in the right place at the right time,” Elfant said. “We just out-hustled them. We passed it around and got good shots.”
Despite falling behind 3-0, Mount St. Michael (0-12), with only 11 available skaters, rallied to get within two goals twice, on a pair of power play goals by Drew Bieder and George Gotay.
But Molloy killed whatever momentum the Mountaineers had at 5:14 of the second period when Sean Kearney beat Greanley on a backhand after a pretty setup by Andy Anastasio to give the Stanners a 5-2 lead going into the third period.
Mike Sangiamo and Chris Pisarski added third period tallies for the Stanners.
“They just kept coming at us,” said Clarke. “They played hard and stuck to their system of dumping and chasing the puck.”
Holy Cross 7, Salesian 4. Ray Wilson had two goals, Joe Temperini had two assists and Pat McHugh had a goal and an assist to lead Holy Cross (14-4-1, 8-2-1 CHSHL C) past first-place Salesian Saturday at the Ice Hutch in Mount Vernon. Eric Mistretta, Matt Olive, Mike Vohs and Tom Dooley also scored for the Knights, who are unbeaten in its last 10 games. Cira Tevranova netted a hat trick and John Bykowski had a goal and two assists for Salesian (10-2-1).
Reach Associate Sports Editor Dylan Butler by e-mail at Timesledger@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 143.
