RSS Feed
|
|
Links: |
 |
Bee Home Page |
|
WNY Events |
|
Classifieds |
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Monroe-Woodbury ends Sweet Home's state title hopes
Section IX's Monroe-Woodbury defeated Sweet Home, 2-1, on Saturday before an estimated crowd of 1,000 at the Amherst Pepsi Center's Feature Rink. The win moves the Crusaders into the Division II state final four at 10 a.m. Saturday at Utica's Memorial Auditorium against either Section I's Rye or Section X's Salmon River. Monroe-Woodbury lost to Section III's Clinton in last year's state finals. "All season we've been ranked one and two," said Monroe-Woodbury coach Paul Bacsardi Sr. "The kids played their hearts out. It's a shame someone had to lose. Both teams skated hard." Monroe-Woodbury's Ian Mauriello scored the game-winning goal against Sweet Home with 6:36 left in the third period on the power play from Tyler Sloboda and Joe Garnet. Mauriello deked a Sweet Home defenseman and sneaked the puck in between the pads of Panthers goalie Derek Mohney. "The only thing I remember is Joe Garnet passing it up right on my stick," said Mauriello. "I got past their defense and put it in." "Every practice we spend the last 10 minutes working on our one and none," said Bacsardi. "I said from the bench he's going to score and he did." "I thought I had it but it just slipped under my pad," said Mohney, who finished with 30 saves. Mohney came up especially huge for Sweet Home in the third period. Monroe-Woodbury outshot the Panthers, 14-3, in the period, and 31-18 overall. "He is a second-team all-state goalie that has really helped put us on the map," said Sweet Home coach Dave Gerspach. "Prior to this season, no one knew who Sweet Home was. Now everybody knows." The Crusaders took a 1-0 lead four minutes into the second period on a wild play. Julian Carney made a huge hit that forced a loose puck in the Sweet Home end. Teammate Andrew Himelson took control of the puck and fired a shot which Mohney initially saved but Teddy Sabini poked home the rebound. The hit caused Carney to vomit as soon as he reached the bench. "I wasn't even celebrating when we scored," said Carney. "I was just miserable. But scoring the goal made it all better." "Plays like that go unnoticed," said Bacsardi. "Without that, the puck does not go into the net." Sweet Home tied the game when, on a five on three advantage, Ryan Marko, the Section VI Western New York Varsity Hockey Federation scoring champion, fed Alex Esposito, who beat goalie Sean O'Sullivan on the blocker side. Paul Campise, who couldn't even walk two days earlier because of a hip flexor, also assisted. As the game wore on, Monroe Woodbury's speed, combined with some Sweet Home penalties in the third, took the Panthers off their game. "The kids did everything we asked of them," Gerspach said. "We just came out on the losing end." Sweet Home finishes 17-4-4. They went 0-23-1 in 2002-03. Marko and Esposito were first and third in the Federation scoring with 37 and 33 points, respectively. Including non-league games, Marko led Sweet Home with 43 points (16 goals, 27 assists) in 17 games played. He has 111 career points (49 goals, 62 assists in 61 games played). Esposito finished his senior year with 40 points (19 goals, 21 assists in 24 games played) and 99 career points (55 goals, 44 assists in 60 games played). Campise was seventh in the Federation in scoring (25 points) and including non-league games, scored eight goals and 26 assists for 34 points. He was a plus 38. Mohney was ranked second in the Federation with a 1.98 goals against average, a 14-3-3 record and a .931 save percentage. In the last two seasons, Mohney has a 27-11-4 record, .932 save percentage and a 1.99 goals against average. "Three years ago, we had tryouts on Nov. 1 and teams would laugh at us," said Gerspach. "Who knew we would have the Federation scoring champion for two years (Esposito, Marko), the best defenseman in the league (Campise) and the best goalie in the state (Mohney)?" e-mail: pnagy@beenews.com |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
News
)