Black Sabres shade the Gray

Aaron Bengart scored the winning goal with 44 seconds to go in the third period to lift the Mite Black Sabres over the Gray Sabres, 3-2, on Dec. 30.

Joey Lupica was in net for the Black Sabres. Zach Perelstein played for the Gray Sabres.

The first period did not look good for the Black Sabres. The Gray Sabres showed great defensive work and shut out every move the Black Sabres made.

Tyler Roberto and Noah Bachwitz held up the Gray Sabres' defense, making some great saves at the blue line to keep the Black Sabres on the attack.

Gray Sabre Amit Gulati scored the first goal with 3:36 to go by saving a shot out to the boards from Nick Pieri and firing it back at the net.

With only 1:33 left, Hunter Noll took a pass from Elliot Whittaker, charged down the ice on a breakaway and made a great shot that found its way through Perelstein to even the score.

Only 27 seconds later, Gray Sabre Rachel DePerio made an awesome run down the ice and managed to slide the puck into the net through a gaggle of players. The period ended 2-1 in favor of the Gray Sabres.

The second period saw no addition to the score. Both teams made some great plays but to no avail. At one point, Dan Mosher showed great hustle to stay onside. Christian Rottner, Paul Arias, Whittaker, Noll, and Bachwitz worked on a new play in the faceoff that took the puck away almost every time.

The Black Sabres came out charging in the final period. Jacob Ostrowski, Nick Carbone, and Bengart all made shots at the net but Perelstein shut them down each time. Mosher almost scored from a rebound and Bachwitz did some great foot and stick work to keep possession of the puck while waiting for his teammates to come out of their end zone, to prevent an offsides call. Rottner had a breakaway and scored to tie it up with 6:06 to go in the period.

With only 44 seconds left, Bengart made a solo run on goal and scored. The Gray Sabres pulled their goalkeeper from the ice and brought out an extra attacker in an attempt to even the score but the game ended with the Black Sabres on top.