December
23, 2006
WAYNE -- With the equivalent of a “hockey holiday” coming up, the last thing that Don Bosco wanted to endure was heading into their extended break without a win. The Ironmen had struggled through their first four games, and a loss to Gordon Conference foe Pope John could have sent them spiraling down.
Instead, they christened their new uniforms in victorious fashion, getting a goal from Connor Leen to break a 2-2 tie at the end of the second period and shutting down the Johnnies in the third period for a 3-2 win.
“We didn’t want to go into that long break winless,” DB head coach Matt Nielsen remarked. “It’s still early, but it almost feels like it’s the midway point. You want something to feel good about.”
The feel-good score came from the smallest player on the ice. Leen, all 5-foot-5 (at best) of him, found his way in front to cash in a rebound of a Mike Garlasco shot with 29 seconds left in the second period.
“I was watching the play, and I saw (PJ’s James) Perrone come around the net,” Garlasco recalled. “I just make a quick move to make him commit, and he came up the boards. I poke checked it (away), and I saw Leener coming towards the net and I just threw it (on goal) for the rebound.”
“It just came in front of the net and I was there to put it in,” Leen added.
“He’s got tremendous skills, and he’s got great hands and is very smart. That’s why he got moved up to (the first) line,” Nielsen related.
The goal was doubly satisfying in that it came just 17 seconds after the Lions had tied the game on an Anthony Spronz goal off an assist from Perrone.
“We spent time in practice on 5 on 0’s from the hash marks in,” Nielsen explained. “Get the puck to the net and try to bury those rebounds. We spent a lot of time on that, and it paid off.”
Pope John (4-2-2) had scored first, at 6:09 of the opening stanza, on a Gordon Nicholson power play tally that was set up by Greg Kreisinger. The Ironmen (1-3-1) evened it up at 4:04 of the second period when Joe Wesolowski assisted on Kevin Whitfield’s power play goal.
Bosco took the lead at the 8:25 mark, with Ryan Grudzinski (who switched line with Leen) scoring off assists from Sean Tomasini and John Champion.
“I think we did a lot of
things better,” Nielsen said. “We got the puck to the net and
had better scoring opportunities. We had the same number of shots (as in previous
games), but the quality was much better.”
The third period saw the Ironmen shut off the Lions, keeping them to just
four shots in the period. Pope John had only 10 shots in total, compared to
21 for Don Bosco.
“I would think we blocked 12-15 shots,” Nielsen guessed. “We did a good job of getting in front of shots.”
While their initial win was a big one, the Ironmen know that the season is still young, and they have a long way to go in order to command the respect of the hockey community.
“We know we haven’t been playing well, but we’re working hard to get it done and we’ll get there,” Garlasco said. “People have been underestimating us, and we’re just trying to show them they’re wrong.”
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