Burnt Hills/Scotia-Glenville hockey coach Walt Peretti called a timeout with 34 seconds left in the third period and his team down 1-0 to Niskayuna/Schenectady Saturday.
His top line made him look like a genius as the play he designed worked to perfection. Chad Overbaugh won the face-off and passed the puck to Ed Shively, who faked out N/S goalie Scott Hartz and scored with 26 seconds left to tie the game. A scoreless overtime left the two teams deadlocked at 1.
We drew that play up during the timeout and put Eddie Shively on the wing, and after we won the face-off over to him, he was able to get it done and score, Peretti said.
The tie was indicative of a game that was expected to be a barn burner as the two evenly-matched teams with nearly identical records met in front of a packed house at the Schenectady County Hockey Facility in Glenville.
`This was a nice game for us. The way we held it together in a hostile environment on their senior night, it was nice to see our kids come together and get out of there with a tie,` Peretti said.
Both teams had numerous opportunities to put the game away in the third period but both Hartz (25 saves) and BH/SG goalie Roland Marlow (20 saves) played well in earning their respective teams a tie.
Most of the scoring chances came on power plays during an infraction-filled contest where 15 penalties were called. The Mohawks went 1-for-7 on the man advantage, while the Spartans were 0-for-8.
`Their goaltender made some nice saves on us when we had opportunities on the power play, and we didn’t put the puck in the net,` N/S coach Todd Templeton said. `We created opportunities ` we just didn’t score. The opportunities are there, but we just need to capitalize on them. We’re going to need to do that come Sectional time.`
The Mohawks (14-7-3, 7-4-3) struck on the power play with 1:58 left in the second period. Senior Matt Kelly picked up a loose puck just outside the goaltender’s crease and put it behind Marlow for a 1-0 lead.
After tying the game, the Spartans (13-7-2, 8-5-2) controlled much of the five minute overtime period including two golden scoring opportunities by Bobby Choquette and Tom Barnes, but Hartz remained a stalwart in net to keep the game knotted at 1.
`He’s (Hartz) been great for us, and he played another great game tonight after posting a 3-0 shutout last night against Glens Falls. He may have been a little tired, but he played just as well and we’re going to need him to play like he did tonight if we plan on going very far in the playoffs,` Templeton said.
N/S begins its playoff run Friday when it hosts Guilderland in a Division I quarterfinal game.“