In a battle of two undefeated teams, the Friars’ Hockey team took home the victory to remain the only undefeated team left. Sunday night, the Saint Anthony’s Friars took on the Smithtown/Hauppauge Bulls and, in a very anticipated matchup, defeated them by a score of 4-3.
Junior Goaltender Jordan Valcich shone as he made 46 saves on 49 shots in the victory. Bulls’ goaltender Aidan Halliday was 16/20 in the loss. Valcich was a huge part of the success of the Friars playing one of the best games the SCHSHL has seen.
The first period was very contested until Captain Cormac Terry took a shot from the point on the powerplay and Junior Tommy Azzariti deflected it in for the 1-0 lead. Two minutes later Bulls forward Gavin Bareham broke through for a mini breakaway and roofed it on his backhand to tie the game at one apiece.
Halfway through the second period, Friars’ senior Brody O’Doherty fumbled the puck but it went right to senior Joe Rocca’s stick who hammered it home for the 2-1 lead. The Friars built on that momentum as they scored two more goals following Roccas’ for the 4-1 lead. Senior James Schendorf fed senior James Aspromonti and the Friars went up 3-1. Tommy Azzariti added a second goal to his campaign which would end up being the game winning goal.
The Bulls made a strong push in the third period scoring twice, but the Friars were able to stay strong and secure the win. Smithtown had all the momentum until Andre McGraime cross-checked Junior Anthony Cutalo in the back which led to Saint Anthony’s getting a five minute major powerplay and killed the Bulls’ chance of coming back.
Cormac Terry played his best game of the season locking down on defense and leading his team to this victory. Senior forward Ryan Leon was asked to play defense, due to a short bench, and he was able to hold his own. Juniors Zack Sirel and Anthony Cutalo also played very strong games offensively, including seeing Sirel win eleven of his fourteen faceoffs.
The Friars remain undefeated and now stand at 8-0 in first place. Saint Anthony’s takes on Northport/Huntington (3-5) Wednesday, 11/13 at the Rinx in Hauppauge.
