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WPCNR PRESS BOX. By John F. Bailey. November 28, 2004: Stepinac’s Al Siciliano of Da Bronx, who’d been pinching in over the blue line all night, took the puck to the right of the White Plains net with 6:50 to go in the game and no Tiger went after him. Al was given precious time to aim, turn and whip a 20 footer beating Tiger goaltender Jake Weinstein on the short side between skate and post for the winning goal of the White Plains Tiger Invitational Hockey Tournament Sunday night.
SCORE! Al Siciliano gunning in the gamer with 6:42 to play in the Third Period Sunday night. Siciliano is behind the Linesman deep by the far side boards. The defenseman’s shot found daylight and put Stepinac ahead to stay, 5-4. Photo by WPCNR Sports.
GOALLLLLL!! Justin Lindh (in front of Chris Flynn-21) has just taken a pass, and is darting across the goal mouth to fire in the first of his 4 goals last night for the White Plains Tigers to tie the score 1-1, against the Stepinac Crusaders after the close of the First Period last night at “The EB”. Photo by WPCNR Sports.
The Crusaders withstood a two-Tiger advantage over the last two and a half minutes to take back the game after Justin Lindh’s three goals in the third stanza had tied the game 4-4, winning the Mamaroneck Avenue grudge match, 6-4, in a doosey.
It was furious, hard-hitting, intense end-to-end action hockey from the opening drop. The Tigers withstood the rangy, hard-hitting Crusaders as the boards thundered from check after check for the first 12 minutes.
Tiger Matt Gelston was robbed by Crusader goalie Nick Giordano on a semi breakaway at the 10 minute mark, and the Tigers netminder Weinstein smothered a Mike Henderson(of White Plains) breakaway at the seven-minute mark.
UN! BIFF! BAM! BANG! The action was rock-em, sock-em, skate-em hockey from the Opening Drop at Ebersole Rink. Photo by WPCNR Sports.
Then the break: Brenden Keenan took a pass from Steve Greaney and walked in on Tiger Goalie Weinstein’s left and fired the rubber into the lower right corner, making the net jump out, for a 1-0 Crusader lead with 2:28 to go in the opening stanza.
After the Crusaders killed a penalty, Tiger Keith Fricke picked the stick of a Crusader defender trying to carry out of his zone at the blue line, deaked and passed the puck ahead to No. 9, Justin Lindh who cut across the goalmouth and with a spin move fired a deadly backhander past Crusader Goalie Nick Giordano on his right side to tie the game. 1-1 at the end of the first period with 28 seconds to go.
The Tigers came out flat after the 3 minute break between the first and second periods.
(Why is it that the high school league only has a short break between the first and second periods? Could someone explain that to me, when they have a ice cut break between the second and third periods? It’s not good, not consistent. Not professional. The kids deserve better. The Coaches deserve more time to teach between those two periods.)
Shooting Practice and a Giveaway
The Crusaders, whom you can never make a mistake on, zinged in two goals in the first three minutes of the second stanza to take a 3-1 lead, faster than you can say Archbishop Stepinac High School Crusaders.
Alex Post of Croton-on-Hudson, fired home the fourth rebound off of Jake Weinsten for a 3-1 lead at the 12:30 mark.
An Ugly Thing to See.
There were four big Crusaders surrounding and torturing Tiger Goalie Jake Weinstein in front of the Tiger goal,l taking uncontested shots on him. Weinstein valiantly kicked, scrambled and clawed away three point-blank shots, until Mr. Post put Weinstein out of his misery by deftly flipping the black disk over the flat-on-his-back Weinstein for a 2-1 lead. No Tiger defenseman raced to bowl over any Crusaders taking shot practice.
In 22 seconds the Crusaders scored again on a giveway when Mike Pirzinger lifted the stick of a Tiger attempting to carry the puck out of his offensive zone, and walked in on goal. Pirz passed it to the left side where one Crusader fired, Weinstein stopped it, but the rebound came to the right side of the goal where Pirzinger of Da Bronx flipped it into the net to make it 3-1. with 12 minutes left to go in the period.
Costly Power Play Goal makes it 4-1.
The Tigers held off the Crusaders the rest of the period when a tripping penalty gave the Crusaders a man-advantage with one minute to go in the period. Within 5 seconds, the Crusaders scored. White Plains’ Mike Henderson picked up the puck behind the Tiger net, leisurely skated to the head of the left circle, whirled and fired beating Weinstein on the right side, to Weinstein’s left, to make it 4-1.
Return of Rocket Richard Ties it up. 3 Goals in 7 Minutes in Final Stanza.
Talk among the Tiger Hockey Parents was one of consolidation. Nothing prepared anyone for what was to happen next. The Orange and Black came out flying to start the final period.
BREAKAWAY! Within 17 seconds, the Tigers caught the Crusaders pinching deep. Tiger Forward CJ Pavarini outletted the puck to “No. 9” Justin Lindh who balancing on one leg, split the defense at the red line and the race was on. Flying in on goal, Justin Lindh scored his second goal of the game beating Goalie Giordano as he came out of the net. Lindh is seen at the scoring moment, flicking the puck with a hard zip between Reagan’s legs shivering the net, to make it 4-2, Stepinac. Photo by WPCNR Sports.
Chagrined, Stepinac regrouped. But, the Tigers were flying.
Eluding checks, and getting behind the pinching defensemen of the Crusaders, the line of Lindh, Gelston and Wagner made it 4-3 in less than two minutes, as Ben Wagner pushed it to Gelston who shot from the right side, and waiting on the rebound was that man, Justin Lindh who slipped it neatly behind Giordano to make it 4-3 with 13 minutes to go, and register The Hat Trick.
The Top Hat Trick.
The game was on another level now, as the Crusaders took back the ice. Tiger Weinstein turned away a great drop pass combination at the 10-minute mark.
Incredibly, Justin Lindh scored his fourth goal of the game to tie the score at the 8:13 mark on a pass from Ben Wagner and defenseman Ed Oliva. Oliva got the puck to Wagner at the red line who carried it in, spun and fed Justin Lindh who without hesitation fired it in from just south of the circle into the lower right hand corner. Baby, you should have seen the net jump!
Lindh and his line had tied it up, and the roof was raised.
I gotta tell ya, hockey fans, I love this kid Lindh, he accelerates into the goal, clears leather faster than Paladin and gets real low and fast heading in on net. He scored his goals because he gets that shot off low, hard fast, his stick, part of his body. And he’s great on one skate. Several times tonight he flew to the goal to get his shot off.
Like wearers of the Number 9 before him, (Gordie Howe, Andy Bathgate, Maurice Richard), he is a worthy wearer of the Number 9.
Failure to Clear and Play the Man Costs White Plains Dear.
The Blue and Red converted the second defensive lapse of the game by the Tigers to score the winner two minutes later. The Tigers were sloppy clearing the puck out of their end, it rolling around behind the net into the right corner. Steve Greaney fed the puck to Al Siciliano to the left of the goal on the right of the far circle. The Tiger defenseman was too late getting over and Big Al and gotten his shot off, a deadly 15-footer that we believe beat Weinstein on the post side.
Crusader Coach Greg Egan explained the defenseman’s goal: “We got him pinching down low, he closed in, and got a good shot off. This is a good game for us. This is our third game of the season, and we really wanted to get tested. I’m glad we played White Plains they had a good team. They pushed us. And hopefully this will get us ready for the Catholic league we have to face.” Photo by WPCNR Sports
Five Crusaders Inside Your Blue Line is Not a Good Thing.
Egan explained the pinching strategy that the Crusaders employ. “We do pinch down. We have good team speed. We think we can overcome, our defense have good speed and size. We like to put offensive pressure on. It held up pretty good for two periods.”
“We did have some breakdowns in the third period where they took advantage of us. But that Justin Lindh kid, that kid’s a great player. You shut him down you did a good job. And he made us pay, when we did pinch down and got beat.
We do play a fairly offensive-minded game. We like to score. We’re built for speed, and that’s how we play.”
Coach Greg Egan and the Crusaders at Postgame Ceremonies. Mr. Egan, creator of the winning Stepinac Hockey program is in his tenth year as the Chief Crusader. Photo by WPCNR Sports.
“We very rarely go into a shell (to protect a lead). If we can take a chance to take advantage of you, we will. We’re always looking to break a guy, even with my penalty killers. If they can break a guy loose, they’re going to give him a headman pass and let it go.”
WPCNR asked Coach Egan the secret to Stepinac’s forechecking: “The practices are real hard, probably 25 minutes of real intense power skating. They’re pretty well conditioned. Some of the football players aren’t in the shape I want them to be in yet. We’ll be better midseason, faster stronger.”
Two-Tiger Advantage Held off.
The Tigers had a golden opportunity to tie when two Crusaders were penalized with three minutes to go in the game. The Crusaders wasted the first minute of the penalty beautifully, pinning Tigers into the boards in their own end, and killing off the rush. Steven and John Greaney, Mike Henderson, Alex Post and Mike Doane executed the poised, aggravating, pesky penalty killing at a critical moment. The Orange Shirts could not get the Power Play going.
Steve Greaney added an empty net goal with 1 second to go for the final score.
In the second minute of the Two-Tiger advantage, with time running out, the Tiger power play moved the puck around the four points down low, to the circle, across and in front of the goal but did not fire it in there, and the equalizer did not happen. The Tigers scored only once on the power play all night.
The Tigers lose their first of the year and fall to 3-1, while the Crusaders win their third straight. Stepinac had 32 shots on goal, White Plains 27. The Tigers skate next on Wednesday against North Rockland at The Eb (Ebersole Rink) at 4 P.M, then take the ice against Clarkstown South at Sport-O-Rama in Clarkston next Saturday at 7 P.M.
The Tigers could have won this hockey game, and have to be commended for coming back to tie the game after most folks were just hoping to keep the score close in the third period. Two Stepinac goals were a direct result of Crusader concentration and 45-minute play, and Tiger mental lapses. As the season goes on there aren’t going to be those blue shirts clustered around Jake Weinstein. They’re going to go for the man more. They’re going to shoot the puck more on the power play. (But the Crusaders kill the power play better than the Rangers when there were New York Rangers).
White Plains has all the heart they need.
After all, this is White Plains.
Mike Henderson Awarded Lauer Scholarship.
At the close of the game, Mike Henderson of White Plains, No. 7 for Stepinac who scored the fourth Stepinac goal, was awarded $1,300 in scholarship money as winner of the William T. Lauer Memorial Foundation Sportsmanship Award & Scholarship.
Mr. Henderson (7) was presented the award by Billy Lauer’s Dad, Bill Lauer. Billy is the White Plains hockey player who died in a motorcycle accident on Ridgeway Avenue. The Foundation was funded last May at a fund-raising dinner and silent auction, and to date has given away $20,000 in scholarship money to White Plains athletes, including two 4-year scholarships. Mayor Joseph Delfino presented the award, and is seen at the left (in cap.)Photo by WPCNR Sports.
