|
Printed From Acorn-Online.com Sports
It really didn’t matter who they were playing as the Cardinals came into the first round of the Division I playoffs with confidence following an edge-of-your-seat 5-4 double overtime win against Daniel Hand High School of Madison. Senior Michael Karp scored his second goal of the game on an assist from junior George Christie at 12:20 in the second overtime period to give the Cardinals a hair-raising win in the qualifying round against the Tigers. That earned Big Red a trip to Hamden to take on the the Green Dragons. The Cardinals barely blinked in front of a packed house at the Lou Astorino Rink last Wednesday night. Hamden did all it could do to escape another seat-grabber as the Cardinals game effort came up short by a 1-0 margin. Greenwich, led by senior captains Jonny Rogers and Matt Smith, entered the tournament ranked 16th at 13-7 and had a huge challenge ahead of them facing 16-3-1 Hamden. Rogers, Greenwich’s goalie, was stellar between the pipes, stopping 29 shots and giving Greenwich a chance to pull it out in the end. “We knew coming in that Hamden is a tremendous hockey team,” Greenwich head coach Bob Russel said. “They play a tough schedule so they are used to playing in close games all the time. Rogers came in a few years ago as a sophomore and won the starting job and never let go of it. “Jonny is a real credit to our program. If you are going to start and build a top program, you start with a Jonny Rogers and work up from there.” Greenwich got right after it with senior Mike Stolfi taking off on a breakaway at 13:14 of the opening period, but his shot went off the shin pads of the Green Dragons’ Anthony Avitable in the net. Hamden won the puck on a face-off at the blue line before the Cardinals defense of seniors James Kiernan, Mark Longo and junior Ollie Christie put up a road block out in front of the net. Greenwich was getting its stick on enough loose pucks to stay in the game against a very aggressive Hamden squad. At 7:31, Big Red went in for another opportunity when sophomore Rit Spezzano swiped the puck at the blue line and took off on a breakaway by splitting two defenders. Avitable managed to get a hand on the shot with a glove save at the post and Hamden got a wake-up call. It took a little fancy skating for the Green Dragons to avoid a persistent Cardinal defense. C.J. Carignan settled a puck off the boards at mid ice and directed a pass to Pat McGovern breaking into the crease. McGovern took off to his left and then circled around a defender spotting Scott Walsh at the post. Rogers geared up for the point blank shot but McGovern aborted the pass attempt to Walsh and took it himself lining a 15 footer just inside the far post for a 1-0 Hamden lead at 7:07 in the first period. “Hamden did a good job dropping down and blocking shots and it took away the lanes,” said Russel. “They did manage to get one by Rogers but he is a player who doesn’t give up and he kept us in this game. “It’s not only his skills on the ice, he’s a great kid and a team player and it’s been an honor to coach a kid like that.” The Dragons found out that Greenwich High was a little more than they bargained for as both teams fought through a grueling, scoreless second period. Rogers stopped all 12 shots with more than half of them coming from point blank range. The Cardinals looked for the tying goal right off the bat when junior Brian Macken went the length of the ice, but the shot was knocked away at 14:10 of the second period. Junior forward George Christie then got a pass out to sophomore Ryan Kelly, who spotted junior Mark Bria at the post. Bria dumped it off to Spezzano, who took it behind the net to avoid the defensive pressure and got upended by the Green Dragons’ Dave Findley who came over to break up the play. With 5:15 to go in the second period, Rogers made the save of the game when he stopped a shot from going in as Mike Pierne landed in his lap, knocking the goal off its supports. As the period came to a close, Hamden was in a power-play situation but Mike Karp, D.J. Maloney and Ward Waesche managed to kill the penalty and the game headed into the final 15 minutes with Hamden clinging to a 1-0 advantage. “We were able to get a few power play opportunities ourselves, but Hamden did a great job taking the lanes way,” Russel said. “We just weren’t quick enough to take advantage of those opportunities, but I’m real proud of the effort we gave tonight.” At 13:34 of the final period the Cards’ Nat Putman went behind the net to break up a play only to have Ron Esposito come up from behind and drill him with a hard check. Putman was shaken up on the play and Esposito received a two-minute penalty for boarding. That put Greenwich in a power-play situation, but twice Hamden came up and was able to clear the puck to kill off the penalty. With 10:40 to go, Putman was back on the ice and he let go of a shot that came within inches of tying the game as it slammed off the top of the crossbar. Hamden was dodging bullets at that point, as Greenwich had two more power-play opportunities down the stretch. Matt Smith’s point blank shot was stopped at the post with 8:48 remaining, and with less than three minutes to play, Hamden was called for too many players on the ice. Greenwich was down to its final chance and the Green Dragons’ Scott Teulings managed to steal the puck and take it into the Cardinals end, wasting a minute off the clock by eluding defenders along the way. Kiernan managed to get off a shot from out on the blue line with 1:08 left, the final failed attempt for Big Red. © Copyright 2008 by Hersam Acorn Newspapers |
