Rams Fend Off Bears

BREWSTER—The Brewster High hockey team outplayed the Carmel High hockey team in a Friday night game at the Brewster Ice Arena, but came up short thanks to Carmel's Marc Glaviano. The senior goaltender stopped 38 shots to carry the Rams to a 3-2 win.

Brewster’s Mike Miller (R) slips a puck past Carmel goalie Marc Glaviano in Carmel’s 3-2 win last week.SKIP PEARLMAN “It's the second game we played against them, and again their goalie did a great job,” said Brewster coach Tom Andreacchio. “We worked, we skated, just couldn't put the puck in the net, the kid frustrated us.”

From the onset the Bears controlled play and kept the Rams pinned in their own zone, but couldn't get past Glaviano. The Bears out-shot the Rams 17-8 in the first, but trailed 1-0 when Rams sophomore Jackie Barnes set up junior Josh Serpe's breakaway goal with less than six minutes remaining in the period.

Brewster’s Joe Wegwerth heads toward the net as Carmel’s Josh Serpe pursues.SKIP PEARLMAN With his team up one, Glaviano made a tremendous save on Brewster eight grader Joe Wegwerth to keep the Bears off the board heading into the second period.

“First period he made one of the best saves I've seen him make,” said Carmel coach Tom Domicoli. “We could have been down 4-1 after one period. They just didn't finish, we could have been out of the game early.”

The Bears finally got one past Glaviano when freshman Sean Hamilton set up sophomore Eric Dolce with 5:48 left in the second. After getting their first goal the Bears continued to pressure the Rams, and took the lead on senior Mike Miller's goal.

“They're on top of you every shift, those two together (Miller and Wegwerth) they get on top of you,” said Domicoli.

Barnes had a chance to tie the game late in the period, but failed to convert on two breakaways.

Trailing 2-1 heading into the third, the Rams picked up their play, put some pressure on the Bears and caught a few breaks to take the lead. With 8:55 to go Miller nearly doubled his team's lead, but his shot rang off the crossbar, keeping it a 2-1 game.

“The defensive part of the game was pretty good,” said Andreacchio. “We were snake bitten, but we have to just keep working.”

With time running out, Rams junior defenseman Mark Baurle picked up a loose puck in the neutral zone, and fired low shot from the point past sophomore Heather Daley to tie the game. Daley finished the game with 23 saves.

A minute and a half later, Serpe gave the Rams the game-winner when he threw the puck at the net off of a Barnes rebound.

“Obviously it wasn't a goal that we drew up,” said Domicoli. “It hit her off the foot and went in, but we'll take it.”

Carmel’s Josh Serpe scored two goals against Brewster last week. SKIP PEARLMAN The Rams held on for the final two minutes for their sixth win in seven games.

“They skated a lot better this game, than the first game,” said Domicoli. “They outplayed us today, if it wasn't for Marc Glaviano it would have been over in the first period.”

The Bears followed their loss to the Rams with another tough loss on Saturday to league opponent Yorktown. The Bears took a 2-1 lead into the second period, but fell behind before the start of the third.

“The defensive part of the game was horrible, including forwards not back checking,” said Andreacchio. “We kept giving up odd man rushes against us the whole game. We just didn't play well.”

Yorktown scored four straight goals in the second to build a 5-3 lead heading into the third. The Bears lethargic play continued into the early parts of the final period before they turned things around.

Teammates embrace Josh Serpe after his first goal against Brewster. SKIP PEARLMAN “First period was pretty even, the second period came along and we ended up falling asleep,” said Andreacchio. “We had some odd man rushes against us, and Yorktown just took it to us.”

With 44 seconds remaining the Bears pulled within one but were unable to get the equalizer before time ran out.

“We had a lot of opportunities,” sad Andreacchio. “We just couldn't put the puck in the net.”

Wegwerth led the Bears with a pair of goals. Seniors Ray Bednarczyk and Jack Donelan, along with junior Matt Bentson and eighth grader Sean Henderson also scored for the Bears. Sophomore Mark Bentson contributed three assists.

Carmel’s Jackie Barnes puts a hit on Mark Bentson of Brewster last week. SKIP PEARLMAN Sophomore Shayne Lisa finished with 19 saves for the Bears.

Following the two tough loses, the Bears picked up their second win of the season with their 6-3 win over league opponent Ossining.

Against Ossining the Bears fell behind early but responded with a goal on the very next shift.

After keeping Ossining in its own zone the entire shift, Matt Bentson knocked in a rebound to tie the game. Senior Joe Rubino and Miller were credited with assists.

“It was big to show that we can come back, it was really big today. It just kept getting better and better, they were out there they were working they were hustling,” said Andreacchio. “Dolce's line they just came out using the body, and that's a young line, they used the body and set the tone.”

Just over a minute later the Bears scored on another rebound goal, this time Dolce put in Henderson's shot to score the go ahead goal.

“We've been working on it all year, just keep the puck low and good things will happen,” said Andreacchio. “Keep the shot low on the goalie, instead of going over the net. We're getting some decent chances, try and play it off the goalies pads and crash the net.”

Dolce added his second goal of the period a few minutes later, once again assisted by Henderson. Wegwerth converted a Donelan pass into another goal, giving the Bears a 4-1 lead heading into the second period.

Henderson added a goal of his own and assisted on Dolce's third goal of the game to finish of the scoring for the Bears.

Lisa finished with six saves in net.

“They just keep working, finally it looked like it paid off today,” said Andreacchio. “We played a little better defensively today, we got some scoring from another line which was really good. Dolce had a good game, the whole line had a good game together.”

The Bears record now stands at 3-12, and just 1-7 against league opponents.

After the Brewster game the Rams closed out their week with a disappointing league loss Sunday night against Lakeland/Panas.

“It was basically a night off, we came out unmotivated, never got anything going,” said Domicoli. “It was a definite learning experience, no matter what you have to play every single night if you expect to win.”

Despite being outplayed the Rams only trailed 2-1 with time running out in the second period before Lakeland scored two quick goals to take a 4-1 lead into the final period.

Glaviano finished with 27 saves but was pulled early in the third when Lakeland extended their lead to 6-1. Sophomore Anthony Fagan saw his first game action of the year and stopped all seven shots he faced.

The Rams next game is a league game against Horace Greeley at the Brewster Ice Arena on Friday January 22 at 5:20. They follow that up with a non-league match against O'Neill High on Saturday January 23 at 4:10. The Bears next game is Sunday January 24 at 4:30 against league opponent Lakeland/Panas.