HIGH SCHOOL HOCKEY
Smith strong in net as Saratoga defeats Shen
CLIFTON PARK — If hockey doesn’t pan out for Saratoga Springs’ Dakota Smith, the senior may want to consider trading in his goaltending equipment for a crystal ball.
Smith posted a 24- save shutout to lead the Blue Streaks to a 2- 0 win over archrival Shenendehowa Thursday night at Clifton Park Arena, fulfilling a prediction he made earlier in the day.
“He told me before the game that he was feeling shutout,” Saratoga Springs coach Dave Torres said. “I saw him in school today and we talked about it.”
Torres doesn’t like to talk that way himself, but he said he also didn’t want to burst his goaltender’s bubble.
And if there’s any player in the Capital District High School Hockey League who is qualified to make such pre-game predictions right now, it’s probably Smith.
He’s allowed a grand total of one goal in five appearances this season, completely blanking the opponent in two of his last three starts. All told, he’s stopped 67- of- 68 shots since transferring from CBA, which translates to a .985 save percentage and a .35 goals-against average.
He’s one of the main reasons the Blue Streaks currently sit in second place with a 6-1-0-1 record, including 4- 0 in league play. They trail CBA by one standings point and hold two games in hand.
“Coming from CBA, Shen was the team to beat, Saratoga was the team to beat,” Smith said. “When I transferred to Saratoga, I knew that Shen was a team that I wanted to beat. Especially shutting them out on their home ice, it’s a big thing.”
Smith has been sharing goaltending duties with Spencer Glaim through the first month of the season. If he keeps this up, Torres is going to have no choice but to go with Smith more often.
“It’s phenomenal,” Torres said. “Spencer’s still one of the top goaltenders in the league. He’ll get his playing time. Dakota’s been real hot lately.”
The same can be said of center Tyler Bullard, who gave the Blue Streaks the only goal they would need at the 8:06 mark of the first period. He swooped down the left wing to collect a pass from Nick Winters and cut to the net before tucking the puck around Plainsmen goalie Brian Walter.
It was Bullard’s leagueleading tenth goal and 18th point in eight games this season.
“We had that set in our mind before we even came here,” Bullard said. “We knew that first goal was going to be huge. Tried to quiet down their crowd, take them out of the game as soon as we could."
Junior Drew Patterson gave the Blue Streaks a 2-0 lead when he banged home a rebound in the second period, and Smith went the distance to hand the Plainsmen their first league loss of the year. They’ve now dropped three of their past four, falling to 2-5 overall and 1-1 in the CDHSHL.
Walter, who made 26 saves of his own, and the Plainsmen will have a chance at redemption next month, when they travel to Saratoga Springs’ Weibel Avenue Arena for a Jan. 30 rematch.
“I thought tonight was one of our best team games this year,” Plainsmen coach Juan de la Rocha said. “We’ve played a lot of tough teams. We were prepared for this. In fact, I feel better about this matchup after today. We didn’t cash in. We had good opportunities. We just didn’t cash in.”