Tigers take runner-up at holiday tournament

The Amherst Tigers Hockey team was able to turn around a slow start to their season this past week as they defeated Section IV’s Notre Dame of Batavia, 4-3, to take the runner-up trophy in the Palladino Pizzeria Amherst Holiday Tournament.

“I am very proud of my boys,” said Amherst head coach Rich Crozier. “While we would have loved to have won the championship, this gets our team headed in the right direction. Our coaching staff witnessed a lot of good things over the past two nights and are optimistic about our chances in upcoming games.”

The Tigers took on Notre Dame of Batavia in the opening game of the tournament and quickly fell to a 2-0 deficit.

The Tigers roared back in the second period. Junior Zach Willett crashed the net and banged home the rebound of senior Chris Scumarra’s wrist shot to cut the Notre Dame of Batavia lead to one. Senior David Moore tied the game at two when he scored the prettiest goal of the year. The defenseman gathered the puck in the Tigers zone and took it coast to coast finally dekeing the goalie and beating him five-hole.

“That was one of the prettiest goals I have ever seen,” said Crozier. “David is playing exceptionally well for us right now. It is so great to see him step up and contribute.”

Before the period ended, Willett scored his second of the game again from Scumarra this time

after a strong, hard working shift. Scumarra, junior David Rubach, and Willett wore out the Batavia defensemen down low in their zone until finally they capitalized when Willett banged home another rebound. Moore also assisted on the play. The second period ended with a 3-2 margin in Amherst’s favor.

“That was probably the best period of hockey I have ever had a team play for me,” said Crozier. “We outshot them 20-4. The effort from my team that period was exceptional. Twenty shots in a period has to be an Amherst record.”

Notre Dame tied the score at 3-3 with about nine minutes remaining in the game. Again, the Tigers answered the call. Junior Al Mc- Quiggan riffled a slap shot past the Notre Dame goalie when he was fed a pass in the high slot from junior Mike Gruttaduria. Junior Dan Hubbard also assisted on the play.

The Tigers were able to hold on in the dying minutes to seal the 4-3 victory, their first of the season. Sean Smith played very well, recording 15 saves in the win.

On Wednesday night the Tigers took on Section V’s Rush-Henrietta. Despite playing well and outshooting their opponent 33-23, the Tigers lost a heartbreaker, 4-3.

“This was a very difficult loss for us,” said Crozier. “We were the better team on the ice and we out played them for the majority of the game. Unfortunately, we made too many critical mistakes and were not able to capitalize on our many chances. We’ll need to learn from this one”

After falling behind 1-0, the Tigers responded immediately, scoring 35 seconds later. McQuiggan recorded his second in as many games when he scored off a beautiful pass from Hubbard. Rush-Henrietta took the 2-1 lead early in the second, but yet again the Tigers responded. Junior Matt Allwes scored on a rebound when he crashed the net after senior Thom Bergman let a hard slap shot go.

The Tigers took the lead in the closing minutes of the second when Moore scored his second in

as many games. Moore took a nice pass from Allwes and went in on the Rush-Henrietta team on a two on one break. Moore faked the pass and rifled it top corner giving the Tigers a 3-2 lead.

Unfortunately, luck was against the Tigers on this night as Rush-Henrietta scored two unanswered goals in the third period to pick up the win.

All was not lost for the Tigers as their performance earned them the runner-up trophy for the Holiday tournament. Frontier won the championship with victories over Rush-Henrietta and Notre Dame.

Willett’s two-goal performance and Moore’s two goal and one

assist performance earned the two budding stars all–tournament team honors.

“Zach’s been playing really well for us. He’s earned a lot more ice time for the effort he’s been putting in. He has capitalized on his chances and is getting the job done,” said Crozier.

The Tigers next travel to Glens Falls for their annual Winter Break Classic against Glens Falls and South Glens Falls.

“We’ll look to build on these performances” said Crozier. “Hopefully the momentum gained from this tournament will carry over all through out the break. We’d love to start the New Year on a winning streak.”