By Nick DeLorenzo
It was a tale of two goaltenders.
For the first two and a half periods of Game One of the Varsity AA Championship series, Council Rock North’s Jessie Goldberg and Council Rock South’s Sean Boyd turned away every shot they faced –going back and forth between great saves on breakaways, power plays, deflections, and rebound opportunities.
South controlled the pace of the game in the first period, but North adjusted in the second, gaining control of more pucks and generating more scoring chances. But one thing remained the same – the spectacular goalie play – and the game remained a scoreless tie going into the third period.
With the net minders neutralizing two of the most prolific offenses in the league, it looked like the teams were going to play to a stalemate long into the night – until a shot by South captain Peter Malamud took a favoring bounce off the post with 8:42 left in the third to give the Hawks a 1-0 lead. “I was looking for Pat (Grilli) but he was covered,” Malamud said, who took a drop pass from teammate Tyler Deitrick on a breakout. “I just shot it and then it hit the post and went in.”
In a battle between the league’s two best teams, North coach Eric Tye knows that sometimes it truly is a game of inches.
“If [the puck] clinks the other way, maybe an inch, who knows, maybe we’re still playing,” he said.
South gave North every opportunity to get back into the game after shooting themselves in the foot with two penalties in the game’s final eight minutes following the go-ahead goal, but great defensive plays and Boyd’s continued success between the pipes kept the Indians off the scoreboard.
Following the penalty kill, Malamud rifled in an empty-netter from beyond the red-line to seal up game one for the Hawks, 2-0.
South head coach Joe Houk does not underestimate the importance of winning game one in a matchup that could have easily gone either way. “It’s absolutely awesome,” the Golden Hawks’ coach said. “We kind of had a slow start – I think everyone was afraid to make a mistake. [I knew] goaltending is what it would come down to. Jesse (Goldberg) was excellent and Sean (Boyd) played [great].
“My offense was just tremendous and the defensive played was awesome,” he continued. “Everything was from the outer perimeter, so Sean saw everything shot at him. That was a top-notch, back and forth game.”
Goldberg stopped 37 of 38 shots for the Indians – making some breathtaking stops to keep his team in the game that even had some of South’s coaches saying ‘wow’.
Equally impressive was Boyd, who stopped all 33 shots he faced for his second shutout of the season. Boyd credits Goldberg’s performance for forcing him to step up when his team needed it the most.
“I know Jesse is one of the best goalies in the league, so I knew I had to come into [tonight] with my A game,” Boyd said. “I knew Jesse wasn’t going to give up more than 2 goals. I was into the game the whole time and I saw every shot.”
Tye was impressed, though not all that surprised, by the play of the goaltenders.
“What can I say about [Goldberg] that I haven’t already said?” Tye said. “He gives our guys a reason to play hard. And their goalie made some big saves too. I guess we’ll go for ‘goalie battle’ round two on Thursday.”
These teams are no strangers to tight battles when they face off against each other – skating to low-scoring affairs in their two regular season match-ups. Knowing that every small occurrence would likely contribute to the outcome of the game, both sides played with high emotions in terms of scrums for the puck and big hits, especially in the third period. “They know what we’re trying to do, we know what they’re trying to do,” Malamud said. “It’s tough – if you make one mistake (against North) you’re done.”
After dropping a game that could have easily gone either way, Tye acknowledges and understands that his team’s spirits are a bit down, but he knows they will be ready to play Thursday night and leave it all on the ice in an attempt to tie up the series.
“I told them before the game, whether we won or lost this game tonight, we didn’t win or lose the series,” Tye said. “A team’s got to win 2 games. We’re down 1-0 and now our backs are against the wall. We either win or go home.”
COUNCIL ROCK SOUTH 2, COUNCIL ROCK NORTH 0
South -- 0 0 2 2
North -- 0 0 0 0
1st Period --
2nd Period --
3rd Period -- Peter Malamud (South) from Tyler Deitrick and Patrick Grilli; 6:18. Peter Malamud (South) empty net from Colin Craige and Tyler Deitrick; 14:35.
Shots
South – 39 (Jesse Goldberg – 37 saves)
North – 33 (Sean Boyd – 33 saves)
- Log in to post comments
0
