(2-0) Friars Defeat the (1-1) Knights 5-2
In a hard-fought battle against the Kings Park/Commack Knights, the Saint Anthony’s Friars emerged victorious with a 5-2 win. It was a stellar battle between the pipes where both goaltenders faced 30+ shots. The Friars game night’s success featured returning varsity, senior forward James Schendorf who played an incredible two-way game for the Friars.
The Friars’ goaltender, Dominik Feiler, stopped 32 of 34 shots, while Knights’ goaltender, Jacob Dufresne, stopped 48 of the 53 in the loss. The Knights’ goalie’s first miss came six minutes into the second period when junior forward Zack Sirel was tied up on the faceoff and junior forward Tommy Azzariti whacked at the puck, which then took a funky bounce and ended up in the back of the net.
Schendorf’s night included eleven shots on goal and he was able to put one between the pipes taking the Friars up two. He added an assist to his game, as well as being strong in the faceoff dot, winning eleven of his nineteen draws. The first period stayed scoreless and saw Dominik Feiler save fourteen of fourteen shots against.
It wasn’t until six minutes into the second period that junior forward Zack Sirel was tied up on the faceoff and junior Tommy Azzariti whacked at the puck, which then took a crazy hop and ended up in the back of the net. Later in the second period, Schendorf received a pass from senior forward James Aspromonti and fired a shot below the glove to give the Friars the 2-0 lead.
On the power play for the Friars, returning senior James Aspromonti shot the puck low for a rebound which ended up going five hole and giving the Friars a 3-0 lead. The Knights struck shorthanded to reduce the Friars’ lead to two. With 32 seconds remaining, Sirel made an impressive solo effort deking through the defender’s leg and sniping the puck to make it 4-1 Friars. Sirel had a fantastic night in the dot winning fourteen of his twenty faceoffs.
The Friars built on their energy from the end of the second period as it took only two minutes for returning senior Anthony Scorcia to find the back of the net for his first of the season on a nice feed from Schendorf.
The Knights responded quickly with Jack Salva making it 5-2. That would conclude the scoring for the Knights as the Friars would lock up and come away with the win.
Senior James Schendorf who played a great game was asked: What’s the key to their victory vs. Kings Park/Commack Knights? “The way we stayed disciplined, just played our game, didn’t let the fans get in our heads, and capitalized when we got the chance to.” The senior couldn’t have described their game any better than with the usage of “we” and “our” because that was a full team effort to take down the Knights. The Friars are back on the ice Wednesday, October 2nd to take on the 1-0 Sachem.
By Junior Domenic Belcastro who is part of the Friar Hockey team and is writing for the first time for the Scoreboard. He is also a member of several Friar clubs
