Despite taking the lead in the decisive third game of the Route 87 Cup series, Marist club hockey came up short in a 4-2 road loss to Siena.
Since the two teams split the first two games of the series, the result of this game determined who would take the cup home. Both teams were aware of the importance of the prestigious Route 87 Cup and it translated to a high-intensity match on the ice from both teams.
Siena showed ferocity and aggressiveness, constantly checking players against the glass whenever they saw an opportunity. This aggressive defensive style resulted in Siena having multiple opportunities with the puck in Marist’s defensive territory, yet Marist junior goaltender Anthony Russo held strong. In spite of Siena’s attempted offensive onslaught, Russo kept the puck out of the goal to give Marist more time to clean up their early offensive woes.
The first-period momentum shifted when sophomore defenseman Alex Armada generated two breakaway opportunities for Marist. Neither of these resulted in a score, but it was the momentum shift that Marist needed as they maintained possession of the puck inside Siena’s defensive territory for most of the time remaining in the first period.
Despite this, it looked like both teams were going to leave the first period scoreless. That is, until freshman defenseman MingWen Shen took the puck behind the net with 48 seconds left and made a backhanded pass to sophomore forward Johnathan Martirano. Martirano then quickly tapped it into the goal to score the first goal of the game, putting Marist up 1-0.
Siena prioritized shutting down Marist’s momentum as quickly as possible. After some really impressive offensive efforts that did not translate to points on the board, senior forward Chris Schulman capitalized on a one-timer opportunity to tie the game up 1-1 with 16 minutes left in the second period.
Marist needed to strike back, so they tried a new approach to their offense. In the first period, the Red Foxes relied heavily on their ability to get behind the defense and had faith in their skaters’ ability to win in one-on-one situations with the opposing goalie. The issue was that these breakaway opportunities were rare and unreliable, so they took a page out of Siena’s book and instead relied more on their players’ ability to facilitate.
Marist was rewarded for their new approach when they scored their second goal of the game. The Red Foxes were in Siena’s defensive territory, with all their players located a decent distance away from one another. They passed the puck around a little bit before taking a slapshot that sophomore forward Zachary Taylor rebounded. Taylor then quickly shot the puck from the slot, the weak spot of Siena’s defense, into the goal.
Siena continued this back-and-forth game by scoring a power play goal as senior forward Scott Banker worked the rebound of junior defenseman Jay Kelleher’s slapshot into the goal, tying the match at two goals apiece.
After that goal, Marist began to play more aggressively on defense by checking and playing much tighter to the opposing offense. This new defensive playstyle was epitomized by senior forward Christain Wilde’s checking, with each hit a clear display of the passion and competitiveness of the team captain.
Although the aggressive defensive playstyle has its perks, Siena took advantage by getting behind the defense to score the go-ahead goal with three minutes remaining in the second period.
Marist made a valiant effort to tie the game back up before the end of the period, facilitating the puck from player to player. Despite a well-executed march up the ring, Siena escaped the period up by one with one more to play.
Siena quickly minimized any hopes of a Marist had of a comeback by adding one more goal to the board within a minute of the third period starting. From there, Siena prioritized keeping the puck safe, relying heavily on safe passes to keep the clock running.
Marist could not counter this, as the Red Foxes spent ample time in their defensive zone, making it challenging to come back from their two-point deficit. Even when they were provided with a power play opportunity, Marist did not add any points to the board.
With the 4-2 win, Siena clinched the Route 87 Cup over their rival. Marist now will look to bounce back as they face off against the Sacred Heart Pioneers in the McCann Ice Arena on Dec. 6.
Edited by Luke Sassa
Photo from Jaylen Rizzo
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