Saratoga picks up electric 3-2 win Saturday night
ALBANY, NY >> Saratoga Hockey picked up the 3-2 win Saturday night on the road as they traveled to take on Christian Brothers Academy. The win was the only meeting between the two Section II powers this regular season, so it was an important two points in the standings.
“It’s always a battle against them and we look forward to it because it is a great challenge for us,” said Saratoga Head Coach Tim Horst. “It always comes down to a goal at the end, so we look forward to playing them. It’s a challenge and it was a big win for us.”
Will Detora shined in the Blue Streaks win with a two goal performance. Detora scored the game tying goal in the second period and then the game winner in the third. Detora received a beautiful pass on the backdoor from Charlie Leary and was able to get it past the sprawling CBA goalie Josh Coburn to clinch the win.
“It was a good pass, Charlie set me up. It was there, I just had to get it on net,” said Detora. “Josh made a good attempt, he almost got it. I was just trying to put it on the net.”
Despite what the score would indicate, the Brothers led 1-0 after the first period and dominated all aspects of the ice. They were skating and finding open ice, winning the puck battles in the corners, and more importantly, creating traffic in front of Saratoga goalie Brad Blake, which is how defenseman Dale Hammond was able to score the Brothers goal in the period.
“I though the first period was one of our strongest periods we have had all year,” said CBA Head Coach Blaine Drescher. “We were staying within our system and we were really giving them a tough time. We felt going into the first break.”
In the second, the script flipped. Saratoga scored two goals to come back and take the lead and erase a tough first period.
“I think we needed to be better with puck management,” said Horst on the Blue Streaks first period. “We were playing a little hot potato with our puck in the first period and that’s not how we play. We play a puck possession game and so we needed to manage the puck a lot better and chip it to space we can skate on to and posses the puck. I think we did it a lot better in the second period.”
Detora knotted things at one a-piece at 12:57 with a slap shot that beat Coburn five-hole as the power play clock ticked down. Joe Amodio took the lead for Saratoga at 3:55 when he picked up the loose puck on the half board, walked alone toward the net, and picked the upper left corner on Coburn.
“He brings it every game, not just every practice, and we need him to, he is one of our leaders,” said Horst. “We expect that out of him and more importantly, he expects that out of himself.”
Amodio was buzzing all night, not only offensively, but physically, which helped the Blue Streaks regain momentum in the transition from the first to second period.
“He wants to be that guy that is making a difference with every shift,” said Horst. “Whether it is a hard forecheck, a blocked shot, one face off, which he did at the end of the game, he is doing all of that. He has the ‘A’ on his chest for a reason and he has really taken that to heart.”
In the third, both teams brought the fight.
As both teams buzzed, a turnover by the Blue Streak defense led to a CBA breakaway, that Saratoga’s Blake acrobatically shut down. Though the save was monumental, CBA’s Ryan Dollar was able to knot things up at two minutes later. Dollar stuffed home a bouncing puck that Blake lost in traffic.
“Brad is that guy for us,” said Horst. “Once he gets his confidence and he gets going he is our backstop and we believe in him. You need to have that if you are going to be a championship team and he gave that to us today.”
Minutes later, Detora scored his game winning goal.
“There were opportunities on both sides tonight,” said Drescher. “It was tough break because we worked hard to get back in that game and tie it up and we had a tough break in the defensive zone, but we had opportunities.”
Blake finished the game with 22 saves. Coburn finished with 17.
Saratoga improves to 4-2 in Section II and 7-4 overall this season. CBA is now 3-1-1 in Section II and 6-3-2 overall.
“I told these guys to keep their heads up, Saratoga is as strong as any team in this league,” said Drescher. “I’m sure we will have the opportunity to play them again.”
“We always try to stick to our system,” said Horst on if any changes were made to face CBA and if any chances will be made to their systems. “We always have to figure out what we are going to do defensively, offensively, face off, draw. So we are worried about what we are going to do and then we can make adjustments to whatever they do.”