Green Brook Hockey Club: Fall 2005 Playoffs
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Our U8 Division Playoffs certainly had its share of exiting moments and achievements on the part of a number of our U8 players. In First Round action, the Appleton Electric Penquins, who finished first in the regular season, took on the Metro Wire Rope Predators.The Penquins established early command in this one as they took a 3-0 lead into halftime on goals by Stephen Seeley, Jimmy DiGiorgio, and Jack Benham. The Penquins continued their goal scoring in the second half as they got 2 more goals, which were scored by Paul Appleton and Jimmy DiGiorgio. The other First Round Game was a real barn burner between the Shake-A-Paw Flyers vs the Atlantic Fence Blazers. Daniels Hicks notched a goal for the Flyers for the game's first goal, but the Blazers took a 2-1 lead into the half on goals by Luke Rizzoli and Jordan Green. The Flyers tied the game at 2-2 on Daniel Hicks' second tally of the day, setting up a dramatac finish to the game. With just 4 minutes left, Brian Coelho got the game winner and Flyer's goalie Alek Minishak made some incredible saves, as the Flyers advanced to the Championship Game by a 3-2 score. In Final Round action, the 3rd Place game saw the Blazers take on the Predators. The Blazers got the early jump in this one as John Hansell got a natural hat trick to start the game off. His goals, along with Luke Rizzoli and Joseph Rau's got the Blazers of to a commanding 5-0 halftime lead. The Predators got on the board in the second half on goals by Michael Gibbons and Justin Scalera. The Blazers countered with 2 of their own, though as Luke scored again as did Dustin Demarsico and the Blazers captured the 3rd Place trophy by a score of 7-2. The U8 Championship Game pitted the Flyers against the Penguins in a battle for the top spot. Jimmy DiGiorgio and Paul Appleton got the Pens rolling in the first half to give the Penguins a 2-0 lead at the break. The second half saw the Flyers try to break through numerous times, only to see Penguins goalie Jeffrey Isaacs turn their chances away time and time again. The Penguins added goals by Stephen Seeley and Jimmy DiGiorgio and Jeffrey Isaacs got the shutout victory, as the Appleton Electric Penguins took the Championship crown by a 4-0 count. All our U8 teams were proud of a great season from all its teams and players. Fantastic season guys!!!
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Our U10 Division had 3 rounds of exiting playoff action and saw 6 teams battle for the top spot in what wound up being perhaps our most competetive division of the Fall 2005 season! In the first round, the Velocity Skate Shop Phantoms squared off against the Qualcare Sharks. What a defensive battle this one was! Both teams tried to score goals but the first half saw Sharks goalie Alexander Nieliwocki and Phantoms goalie John Carl Gibbons turn away every scoring attempt by either side. In the second half, Nick Martin scored the game's first goal and Alexandra Nata got the Sharks second for a 2-0 advantage. Alexander Nieliwocki turned away all the Phantoms scoring chances to preserve the 2-0 victory for the Sharks, who advanced to the Second Round. Despite the loss, the Phantoms' John Carl Gibbons put in an amazing performance in goal for the Phantoms, blocking many a great scoring opportunity. In the other First Round game, the Green Brook F.O.P. Lodge #23 Lightning faced off against the Universal Court Avalanche and took a 2-1 advatange into halftime on 2 goals by Chris Robinson. Joshua Katzen's second goal of the game tied it. though, for the Avalanche in the second half. John Hermann scored with 9 minutes left and Chris Robinson completed the hat trick to give the Lightning a 4-2 lead with just over a minute to go. Stephen Rachko brought the Avanache to within 4-3 with a goal, but there was just not enough time for the Avalanche to complete the comeback and the Lightning advanced to the Second Round with a 4-3 victory.
In Second Round action, upsets were in the air! The Outback Steakhouse Thrashers, who finished second in the regular season, took on the Lightning. Chris Robinson of the Lightning, struck for his team 4 times in the first half and the Lightning held a 4-0 lead at the break. In the second half, the Thrashers mounted a comeback. Zach Iverson got them on the board with a goal, while Ryan Chang also notched one to bring the Thrashers to within 4-2 with about 8 minutes left. But the Lightning's goalie, Patrick Foti, kept the Thrashers off the board the rest of the way to help the Lightning advance to the Championship Game. Thrashers goalie Evan Regan was also outstanding, as he prevented the Lightning from getting anything in the second half. In other Second Round action, the Sharks faced off against the regular season first place team, the RBC Capital Markets River Rats. After the Sharks took a 2-0 lead on goals by Alexandra Nata and Brandon McSorley, the River Rats came back and tied the score at 2-2 by halftime on goals of their own by Daniel Buccino and C.J. Girgus. In the second half, the Sharks went on a roll as they scored 5 unanswered goals - 2 more by Brandon, 2 by Vinny Martin, and 1 by Nick Martin for a 7-2 lead. The Rats got a little closer on 2 more goals by C.J. Girgus to make it 7-4, but the Sharks's Vinny Martin completed the hat trick for an 8-4 lead. Corey Paltjon added a goal for the Rats in the final second of the game, but the Sharks were winners and advanced to the Championship Game against the Lightning, with an 8-5 victory.
In Final Round action, the Thrashers and River Rats battled for the 3rd Place trophy. Corey Paltjon and C.J. Girgus established early momentum for the River Rats as they scored 2 goals each and had a 4-0 halftime advatantage. facing another 4-0 halftime deficit, the Thrashers got their offense rolling and cut the lead to 4-3 on 2 goals by Ryan Chang and 1 by Joe Whalen. C.J. and Corey got the River Rats offense going though, and scored a goal apiece to increase their lead to 6-3. Zach Iverson scored one for the Thrashers to cut it to a 6-4 Rats lead, but goalie Nick Coco shut the door to preserve the 6-4 River rats win for the 3rd Place trophy. The Championship Game, between the Sharks and the Lightning, was a real dandy for sure!! Chris Robinson got the first tally pof the game by scoring for the Lightning, but Alexandra Nata got the game's equalizer for the Sharks and tied the score at 1-1 shortly before halftime. Alexandra scored again and put the Sharks ahead 2-1 early in the second half. Then, with just under 5 minutes left Chris Robinson struck again for the Lightning to tie the game at 20-2 and to set up a dramatic finish to the game. both teams battled furiously, but then, with just 1:02 left in the game, Nick Martin scored the game winner for the Sharks, who took the championship by a 3-2 score. Both goalies, Alexander Nieliwocki for the Sharks and Patrick Foti for the Lightning, put in great performances in goal for their teams and made this game one of the most exiting Championship Games in GBHC history! Thanks to all our U10 teams for providing us with so many exiting games and thriling moments in our Fall 2005 season. Great season guys!!
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The Green Brook Hockey Club's U13 Division certainly had its share of surprises and excitement, as 4 teams that had battled for first place all regular season long now did the same for the Championship crown. In First Round action, the Oksenhorn Jewelers Spartans faced off against the Hydrotek Scorpions in a matchup of the regular season second place Spartans vs the third place Scorpions. The Scorpions got the ealy jump in this one, as Marc Keyasko and Sandro Correa scored goals to give the Scorpions a 2-0 advantange. But the Spartans fought their way back, as Jimmy Sammon and Justin Turlip scored goals in the last 5 minutes of the first half to tie the score at 2-2. The Spartans immediately kept it going in the second half and scored goals on goals by Ryan Oksenhorn and Colin Bradley to give the Spartans a 4-2 lead. Later in the second half, they would get another from Colin and one from Jenna Abbatemarco to extend the lead to 6-2. After Frankie Buonvicino scored for the Scorpions, Ryan Oksenhorn scored again for the Spartans, who came away with a 7-3 victory to advance to the Championship Game. The other first round game proved to be quite a dandy one as the Watchung Electric Trojans, who finished fourth in the regular season, took on the first place finishing Pizza Brothers Mud Cats. In the first half, Sam Wolfson scored for the Mud Cats to give them the game's first goal, only to see it matched by the Trojans' Nick Perrette first goal on the day. Sam scored again for the Mud Cats, but Nick answered for the Trojans again to tie the score at 2-2. Just before halftime, Robert Lally scored for the Trojans, who led at the half by a 3-2 score. But Sam Wolfson scored again a few minutes into the second half to complete his hat trick on the day and tie the score at 3-3. With about 12 minutes left the Mud Cats took the lead on Richard Hunt's goal. With just a little more than 7 minutes left, though, the Trojans' Robert Lally scored his second of the game to tie it at 4-4 and set up a dramatic finish. With just under 2 minutes to go, the Triojans' Anthony Parascondola tapped in a rebound to give the Trojans a lead they would not relinquish, as the Trojans had themselves a first round upset victory by a 5-4 score to move on to the Championship Game.
In the 3rd Place Game, the Scorpions took an early lead on Michael Lester's first period goal, but Richard Hunt tied it then Sam Wolfson gave the Mud Cats a 2-1 lead before halftime. Sam and Richard would add 2 more goals dfor the Mud Cats in the second half, while Michael Lester tallied another for the only score for the Scorpions in the second half, as the Mud Cats took the 3rd Place crown by a 4-2 count. In the Championship Game between the Spartans and the Trojans, the Trojans' Nick Perrette put on a dominating performance as he scored 4 unanswered first half goals to give the Trojans a commanding 4-0 lead at the half. After Todd Wiener scored to give the Trojans a 5-0 lead, Colin Bradley and Jenna Abbatemarco got the Spartans on the board to make it a 5-2 game. But Nick Perrette put the final touches on it for the Trojans with his fourth goal of the game to give the Trojans a convincing 6-2 win for the Championship. Trojans goalie, Patrick Foti, who had moved up from the U10 division to help the team out, proved to be a big help by stopping the Spartans time and again and allowing just 2 goals. What a finish to the U13 season. Great season guys!!!
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Our U17 Division playoffs provided plenty of highlights and intense drama to end the Fall 2005 season!! In First Round action, the regular season 2nd Place D & M Trophies Wild took on the 3rd Place finishing Green Brook Chiropractic Devils and provided one of the most thrilling games of the entire league playoffs. The Devils got on the board first in this one on a goal by Mark Poltorak, but Walter Quense knotted the game at 1-1 for the Wild. That was the score at halftime and in the second half, with about 11 minutes left, Dan Scerra scored to give the Devils a 2-1 lead. With time winding down to under 8 minutes left, the Wild got the game tied on a goal by Matt Smith. Then, just one minute later the Wild took their first lead of the game on Walter Quense's second of the game, putting the Wild ahead 3-2. The goalies, Shawn Kavanaugh for the Devils and Brian Smith for the Wild, then took over and shut the door the rest of the way providing key save after key save to keep the game a nailbiter right to the finish. The Wild prevailed by the 3-2 score to advance to the Championship Game. The other First Round Game pitted the regular season 1st place Andrews Tree Care Ducks against the 4th place Carrabba's Rangers. Kyle Van Decker got the Ducks on the board first just over a minute into the contest, but before the first half was over, the Rangers would score 2 of their own on goals by Eric Raymer and George Aller for a 2-1 lead. In the second half, the Ducks would tie the game on a goal by Patrick Sammon and take the lead 3-2 on Kyle Van Decker's second of the game. The goalies, Vatsal Shah for the Ducks and Andrew Todtenkopf of the Rangers, kept the score close by denying numerous chances. The Ducks would get 2 more goals from Kyle in the last 5 minutes of the game to come away with a 5-2 vicory to move on to the Championship Game.
In the game for 3rd Place honors, the Rangers and Devils faced off against each other. The Rangers were pretty much in control for much of this one, as they got first period goals from Mike LeFanto, Eric Raymer, and John Fiorilla for a 3-0 lead at the half. Eric and Mike scored again for the Rangers in the 2nd half for a 5-0 lead. Substitute goalie Steven Isaacs was a minute and a half away from a shutout in this one before the Devils' Dan Scerra got them on the board for the game's final tally. The Rangers took the 3rd Place trophy by a 5-1 count. The Championship Game, between the Wild and the Ducks, was a classic battle for the top spot! There was no scoring for much of the first half until Walter Quense got one for the Wild, who took a 1-0 shutout lead into halftime. Jonathan Gates tied it at 1-1 for the Ducks, though, early in the second half. Joe Lally scored on a tremendous blast to once again give the Wild the lead at 2-1 with about 15 minutes left. The Ducks would knot the game again 4 minutes later on a goal by Kyle Van Decker, tying the game at 2-2. With the clock winding down to 7 minutes left Jonathan Gates would put the Ducks on top with a tip-in goal, setting the stage for a dramatic finish. Both teams battled tremendously, but with 51 seconds left, the Ducks' Jonathan Gates would complete his hat trick and put the game away for the Ducks, who won the Championship Game by a 4-2 margin. Great game, great playoffs, and great season guys!!!
