The Bethlehem hockey team played even with Christian Brothers Academy, with the exception of a three-minute span of the second period.
In that three-minute span, the Brothers scored three goals to take a 4-1 lead on their way to a 5-2 victory over the Eagles in Friday’s Capital District High School Hockey League game at the Bethlehem Area YMCA.
I thought the effort was outstanding, said first-year Bethlehem coach Richard Hughes. `We had a letdown at the beginning of the second period. Other than that, I thought we played well.`
`We’ve got a lot of work to do,` said CBA coach Ron Kuhl. `We have to work on the little things to play a complete game.`
The Eagles stunned CBA by getting the first goal. Alex Amirault took a pass from Andrew Vincent and put the puck past Andrew Ragozzino 6:22 into the first period to give Bethlehem a 1-0 lead. Amirault’s goal led Kuhl to pull Ragozzino for Shane Hans, and the freshman responded by stopping 11 of the 12 shots he faced.
The Brothers pulled even later in the first period on Zack Robinson’s and took control at the start of the second period. Marc Meybaum tallied off a Robinson assist 40 seconds into the second period, and Tristan Newkirk scored a short time later to give CBA a 3-1 lead. Brad Medici ended the Brothers’ spurt with a goal at 2:58 that chased Bethlehem goaltender T.J. Caswell.
`I thought we got off to a bit of a slow start, but we put in a couple to get ourselves going,` said Kuhl.
John Remmel replaced Caswell, and the junior played well. Remmel stopped 17 of the 18 shots he faced over the final 27:02.
`When we made the goalie change, Remmel was the one who kept us in the game,` said Hughes.
Matt Bub gave Bethlehem some hope for a comeback when he scored at 5:46 of the second period, but Hans made several key saves to prevent the Eagles from making the score any closer.
`I can’t say enough about Dick Hughes’ program. His kids worked hard tonight. They had some great scoring opportunities,` said Kuhl.
Newkirk added a power play goal late in the third period for CBA, which is trying to follow up a 2005-06 season in which it placed second in the Section II playoffs and reached the state tournament.
`We have some terrific leadership and some experience ` even with the younger kids,` said Kuhl.
Bethlehem’s record fell to 1-2, but Hughes is encouraged by his team’s attitude ` one that’s been forged out of the program’s fight to stay alive after the school district was forced to cut the team’s funding when the original budget was defeated by voters.
`We’re a no quit team. That’s the way this team is going to be,` said Hughes. `We’ve just got to pick up on the mistakes we made (against CBA) and work on them for our tournament next week.`
The Eagles host their annual holiday tournament Friday and Saturday. Bethlehem plays Newburgh Free Academy Friday at 6:25 p.m., with Norwood/Norfolk facing Plattsburgh at 8:40 p.m. The championship and consolation games are Saturday.“