December
9, 2006
WAYNE -- The toughest goals for a team to swallow in a tight game are the ones that come in the final minute of a period, and in particular the second period. Their significance is compounded when the team that allows them has been playing at higher level than expected.
Don Bosco was victimized not once but twice in the final 1:07 of the second period on Friday night at the Ice Vault, and it was enough to allow St. Peter’s to come away with a 3-1 victory.
Dueling at 1-1 as the intermission neared, the Marauders caught a big break when the Ironmen, on a penalty kill, tried to clear the puck only to have it hit off of the referee’s back and be retrieved by St. Peter’s Matthew Runciman.
He took it behind the net and then passed out front to Kyle Palmieri, who quickly served it past Bosco goaltender Chris DeCandia for the power play score. The goal may have been tipped in by another Marauder, but Palmieri received credit for the tally.
“We’re looking for a change. It’s a tough break, but that happens,” DB associate head coach Greg Toskos said. “We get it down the ice, maybe they score, maybe they don’t, but tough to give that one up.”
It was even tougher to see Palmieri, in his first game after sitting out the opener, head man a pass to Bryan Robinson, sending him on a breakaway. He bested DeCandia (17 saves) with just 19 ticks remaining.
“We missed him the first game, and we were able to beat Seton Hall,” said St. Peter’s head coach Joe Maione. “But getting him back, he’s a major offensive presence and other teams know that.”
“We were better on Saturday
than we were on Friday, and we were better tonight than we were on Saturday,”
DB head coach Matt Neilsen remarked. “This is probably the best
team in the league, and we just skated with them 1-1 except for the minute
and seven. We’ll continue to get better. I don’t want to hear
it’s a rebuilding year. We’ll be better next month and we’ve
got to be ready to play in March”
“Don Bosco was playing very well at that point, and it took some of the wind out of their sails,” Maione acknowledged. “We’ve always been a good defensive team, and we’re confident in our ability to hold the lead.”
The Ironmen (0-2-1) had their chances in the third period, twice going on 5 on 3 power plays. The first was 1:32 in duration at 7:59, and the second lasted a full two minutes from 11:52, yet they only managed one quality shot in the combined spans.
“We still have a lot of work to do,” Neilsen admitted. “We’ve only had four practices to work on (the power play). With (Mike) Dolman in the box (misconduct penalty), we got caught with power play (unit) one out there too long, and we didn’t have the legs. We’ll get better.”
“I’m not too happy about the way it ended with all the penalties. It made it too interesting,” Maione said. “We had a chance to put them away, and the penalties hurt that, but overall I’m happy with the result.”
The Marauders took seven penalties compared to three for Bosco in that final period, and the Ironmen outshot them 16-5 (33-20 overall), but SP goalie Kevin Fox was not called on to make any difficult saves.
“We’re not shooting the puck smart right now,” Neilsen explained. “We’ve got to do a better job of getting better shots,” and Toskos added that, “we’re still trying to find the right (line) combinations.”
Both teams had power play goals in the first period. Palmieri took a blast from the right point that Mike Dellutri deflected past DeCandia at 5:49 of the first before Andrew Moscardelli poked one home out of a scramble in front on assists from Mike Garlasco and Ryan Grudzinski to even the game at 8:23.
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