T-Birds on the strength of excellent goaltending and team defense, posted a Shutout win of 3-0 versus Ward Melville. Matt Hughes was in net and played very well, with many tests early on in the contest, he definitely gave the team a chance to get their legs after a slow start.
The Defense played a smart game all night, with few point blank opportunities. the forwards were definitely committed to defense first and this was evident with a 1-0 score throughout most of the game. Scoring came from the usual sources of Connolly, Fleischauer, Tomforde and Marchese; however the night was started by recent JV call up Andrew Snyder, who scored his second in as many games with Varsity. It was set up on a beautiful play by Marchese, with Snyder left all alone in front to cash in late in the First Period.
The second of the goal came with under 4 minutes left in the contest, with three return seniors contributing on a simple play of move the puck and put it on net and good things will happen. Connolly in the corner to Marchese at the point who put it on net and Jackson Tomforde put home his 9th goal of the season; text book hockey.
Ryan Fleischauer would later ice the game with a open net goal with under a minute to play, his 13th goal of the season. With the win the T-Birds have clinched a playoff spot for the 4th season in a row, congrats to the coaches and players – making it to the all-important second season. Standings and positioning may change, but the T-Birds sit in the 6th seed with two remaining games to play; East Islip Jan 18th (Senior Night) and Northport on Jan 23rd (which could be big for seeding).
Don’t Forget, Monday the 16th Anthony’s Coal Fire Pizza teaming up with the T-Birds Hockey Club to donate 20% of proceeds to the www.Jo3Olivofoundation.org out of the Bohemia store. Reference T-Birds hockey dining in or taking out! Thank you to the Varsity Team and their mom’s for setting this up.
