The Niskayuna-Schenectady hockey team narrowly escaped defeat last Saturday night against Guilderland in Capital District High School Hockey League Division I action at the Schenectady County Recreational Facility in Glenville.
After the Mohawks blew a three goal lead in the third period, Zach Perlstein bailed his team out with a power play goal to give them a 5-4 victory.
We got a 4-1 lead, and I think our guys relaxed a little bit, Niskayuna-Schenectady coach Todd Templeton said. `Guilderland’s a good club, and they battled hard. They never quit after being down, they kept coming, and we relaxed. We gave them a couple of opportunities, and they capitalized on them.`
The Dutchmen had two goals disallowed in the game including one on a power play that would have tied the game at four.
`I normally wouldn’t have any beef with the referee, but I was a little upset with the two disallowed goals,` Guilderland coach John DeRubertis said.
Guilderland (6-9 overall, 5-2 league) would score the tying goal on that same power play less than a minute later when sophomore Dan Dickinson skated through two Mohawk defenders and beat goalie Scott Hartz with a shot over Hartz’s shoulder.
Dickinson took an ill-advised hooking penalty at neutral ice a minute later, and it proved costly to Guilderland. Perlstein (1 goal, 3 assists) wasted no time on the power play, scoring four seconds into the man advantage. Matt Kelly won the face-off and sent the puck over to Perlstein, who was stationed just inside the blue line. Perlstein fired a slapshot high past a screened Brendan Glennon for the goal.
The Mohawks’ (9-4-2, 3-2-2) opened up the scoring in the first period after senior Reuben Dacher-Shapiro tipped in a Perlstein blast from the point. The Dutchmen knotted the score at 1 with a power play tally by freshmen Greg Warnken, but N/S regained the lead when Dacher-Shapiro beat Glennon with a low soft wrist shot through the legs.
The Mohawks came out in the second period and scored two unanswered goals to take a commanding 4-1 lead heading into the final period. Senior Steve Cardinal made it 3-1 after he skated through the slot before ripping a slapshot high over the shoulder of Glennon.
N/S senior Steve Garrasi made it 4-1 at 11:47 of the second period after he carried the puck up right wing boards untouched and fired a shot from just inside the blue line that managed to sneak in under Glennon’s arm.
`We called a timeout after their fourth goal, and I told them to refocus and look to score the next goal. I told them if they score the next goal, this is a game,` DeRubertis said.
The Dutchmen did just that, controlling play in the third period and scoring three goals on 13 shots. They made it 4-2 at 4:18 of the third when captain Ben Fogel poked home a loose puck past Hartz. Their third goal was notched 23 seconds later after senior Luke Diamante scored on a rebound off a shot by senior Lee Murphy to close the gap to one.
`We’ve got to learn to play three periods. We’re not consistent in what period we play bad in ` we just haven’t put all three together yet this season,` Templeton said.
`This was a statement game for us, to come out and play that type of period and give ourselves a chance. It’s probably been a couple of years since we’ve had that type of effort from the team,` DeRubertis said.
Hartz finished with 28 saves for N/S, while Glennon stopped 27 shots for Guilderland.
`It’s a league win either way, and we’ll take the points. But we certainly can’t be happy with the way we played. We’ve got to work a lot harder and finish games,` said Templeton.
`I’m impressed. It would have been nice to come out with the win, but our team really grew tonight,` said DeRubertis.“
