Cadets edge Blue Streaks in physical playoff affair
TROY, N.Y. » In their sectional playoff bout between the Saratoga Blue Streaks and La Salle Institute Cadets, there was plenty of blue. Blue and black. Black and blue.
“It was great, physical games are always the best games, because everybody’s going at each other, talking trash, hitting each other,” Cadets forward Tom Ryan said. “It’s just always fun to give a hit, get hit, get back up, know who you got to hit and then go make him pay.”
Indeed it was a physical playoff affair between two squads who know what this time of year is all about. A game which saw things get chippie, with hard hits and puck battles at every turn.
“It’s playoff hockey, the games are very tight scoring games,” Cadets head coach Tim Flanigan said. “I think we made some good plays in the neutral zone. A couple times they came off of body checks, we picked up the puck on a turnover, our guys moved quickly in the neutral zone and on the first goal we got a 2-on-1 and [Ryan] Murray did a great job going down around the goalie, so we look for those types of plays. I think we’re good in open ice and Murray’s been doing that all season long and he had a great game tonight.”
Coach Flanigan is of course referring to Ryan Murray, whose tally past Blue Streaks goalie Brad Hipsley with 4:07
remaining in the first period, staked the Cadets to a 1-0 edge.
“We got the puck in our d zone and one of our defensemen passed it up to Tom Ryan right on the boards,” Cadets forward Ryan Murray said. “I was curling off through the d zone, Tom gave me a nice pass and I just skated down the ice, put a good move on him and banged it home.”
A clutch toe save by Hipsley on Ryan with two seconds left in the first would keep the Blue Streaks within striking distance. Yet, the tandem of Murray and Ryan would be back for more as the game progressed.
With 7:27 remaining in the third period, the duo connected again. All spurred by a big neutral zone check by Murray.
“They had an odd man rush on us and we all got back,” Murray said. “Fortunately I was able to make a big play and I moved it up to Tom Ryan at center ice and Tom got a nice slap shot on net and it went in.”
“I was just thinking that I had that defenseman in front of me and I had to get by him on net,” Ryan said of his eventual gamewinning tally. “So I kind of just wound up as hard as I could, luckily I hit the net and just blew it right by him.”
The puck, which had everything behind it, trickled by Hipsley with 7:27 remaining in the third. Yet, it was not without controversy. “I really couldn’t see anything. The official explained that we knocked it into our own net,” Blue Streaks head coach David Torres said. “I didn’t think we did.”
It was an evening of close calls in a season of close calls for the Blue Streaks, from a town which knows a thing or two about photo finishes.
“This season things just seemed to bite us a lot and we were always on the wrong end of the stick I guess.” Torres said. “It’s hard to play catch up but we never gave up, guys played hard and with a positive attitude on the bench.”
Before Matt Shamberger cashed in with the goalie pulled late in the third, Saratoga certainly had their opportunities. Early in the second a Shamberger backhand attempt would sail wide. Plus, following an elbowing penalty against the Cadets, a streaking Mack Ogden was stonewalled in the slot by Casey Boone.
“We really thought we were going to pull it out,” Torres said. “We scored that goal and we were like alright we got this now but just couldn’t find that second one.”
A Sebastian Geiger empty netter, for good measure, all but salted away the 3-1 Cadets victory.
“We got back on track with a really solid win in the first round of the playoffs. Saratoga’s a really good team. The league’s been very tight all season long.” Flanigan said. “I think that we made a statement that we had a great game tonight and we’re looking forward to moving on.”