The Shenendehowa hockey team reverted back to their mastery of Christian Brothers Academy Friday when the two Capital District High School Hockey League rivals renewed acquaintances at the Albany County Hockey Facility.
CBA (8-1-2 league, 12-5-3 overall) earned its first points against the Plainsmen in the school’s history earlier in the season when the two teams battled to a 3-3 tie at Shen’s home rink on Dec. 23. Friday’s game held a different result, with Shen routing CBA 5-1.
We were outworked all night long, from the opening face-off to the end of the game, said CBA coach Ron Kuhl. `They took it right to us, they never let up and we never really got out of the gate.`
The game was dubbed as `the battle of the unbeatens` in the CDHSHL as both teams entered the game with identical 8-0-2 league records. The Plainsmen entered the game percentage points behind CBA in the Division I standings, but moved into sole position of first place with the win.
`We knew that if we wanted to control our own destiny, we needed to win this game,` Shen coach Juan de la Rocha said. `We’re looking for a No. 1 seed and a first round bye. That’s our goal.`
The Plainsmen entered the tilt missing three key players who were out because of either an illness or injury. Luckily for Shen, none of them were members of the team’s most productive line this season. The line of Adam Hitchko, Jesse Elliot and freshmen Alec Pacheco has been the top scoring line for the Plainsmen all season long. That didn’t change against CBA as the trio accounted for two goals and two assists.
`That line is excellent ` they’re really outstanding. They’ve been playing together since December, and they’re the guys that we rely on,` de la Rocha said.
The Plainsmen (9-0-2, 13-7-2) scored a goal in every way imaginable with the exception of a penalty shot. They tallied two short-handed goals, one power-play goal and two even-strength goals.
Shen started the scoring with a short-handed goal just minutes into the contest when Nick Sansone scored off a feed from Elliott. The Brothers responded nine seconds later with a goal by senior Eric Olds, but the Plainsmen scored two more goals in the first period to take control. Elliot tallied at 9:27 when he put home a rebound off a shot by Bryan Hunter, and Sean Smith got one past CBA goalie Andrew Blood 40 seconds later to make the score 3-1.
Smith’s goal ended the night for Blood after the freshmen gave up three goals on six shots. Freshmen Shane Hans came in and stopped 17 of 19 shots.
The Plainsmen added a goal late in the second period on a 5-on-3 power play when Adam Hitchko’s wrist shot from the left face off circle went in. Hunter tallied a short-handed goal at 13:11 of the third to increase the lead to 5-1.
Kuhl is optimistic that his team will bounce back after a loss which he called `devastating` to his players.
`We’re a top team in the league, but we laid an egg tonight. I’m not going to turn over the whole season here and throw in the towel because we lost one game. It was one point in the standings,` Kuhl said.“