Comets offense overpowers Benedictine

The Amherst offensive cycle can simply make teams look silly and give opposing defenses fits.

Benedictine, which had not faced Amherst this year and only once

since the Comets re-established their team last year, found that out firsthand in a lopsided 7-1 Amherst victory in a Baron Cup II semifinal on Feb. 9 at Brooklyn’s John M. Coyne Recreation Center.

The Comets advance to the Baron Cup II final on Feb. 11 at 3 p.m. Awaiting Amherst is Olmsted Falls, the White North foe that the Comets shared the division title with.

Just how befuddled was Benedictine (13-11-2) with the Amherst (29-2-0) cycle?

The Bengals managed only two shots in the first two periods — one in each — and rarely got the puck out of the Comets’ offensive zone.

“If they haven’t seen or

played against us, it’s a bit different (for the opponent to defend),” Amherst coach Steve Morris said. “Even if you watch from the stands, you can see what a team does. But until you’ve played them, it’s difficult to figure out.”

Amherst ended the game with a 32-9 shot advantage, with most of Benedictine’s shots in the third period coming in garbage time when the Comets were emptying the bench.

“We were able to control the puck down low and just keep it away (from Benedictine). It worked out well for us” Morris said.

The Bengals managed to get on the board with 4:07 remaining when Andrew Schiffer buried a rebound on a Mike Iammarino shot.

For Amherst, which opened a 3-0 lead after the first period on a pair

of goals by sophomore Jacob Kramer and one by junior Michael Giannuzzi, the game from start to finish is one of the best Giannuzzi believes the Comets have had this season.

“In past games, everyone could feel that we were walking in like, syrup (to start the game),” Giannuzzi, who finished with two goals and two assists, said. “We just felt slow. In this game, everything clicked and it felt great the whole time.”

Kramer, who scored a pair of goals in the second to help increase the Comets’ lead to 6-0 and had four goals and two assists on the night, supported Giannuzzi’s statement.

“It really felt like our cycle was working, right from the beginning,” Kramer said. “As a result, we got those three goals really quickly and never really let

up.”

In addition to Kramer’s four goals and Giannuzzi’s two, Amherst received a goal in the third period from freshman Nathan Harmych.

With how well the Comets have played so far in the Baron Cup II — Amherst has outscored its opponents, 13-2 — Giannuzzi said that he is excited to make it to the Baron Cup final, but knows that it is not a trophy that will simply be given to them.

“It’s awesome,” Giannuzzi said. “We’ve been looking forward to this, even before the SWC tournament. This is one of our goals throughout the entire season that we have been working for. To get here feels awesome.

“But we aren’t done yet. We have to play another great game if we’re going to finish our goal.”