Sports

Flyers Hockey Fights Back Against Fordham

Chaminade trickles in with 7-5 victory over Rams.

Michael Minaczyk made the first goal 12 seconds into the game. He made the last one 23 minutes later in an empty net. Usually that’s the only one that matters; it just happened to give the Chaminade hockey team an extra bit of cushion against a Fordham Prep team that anyone who happened to be at Iceland when the puck dropped Wednesday afternoon thought they weren’t going to need in what ended up as a 7-5 win.

“Probably the one 12 seconds in,” Minarczyk said when asked which was easier. “It was almost like an empty-netter, I just threw it on the net, found a way to trickle in. The second one was a little far away.”

“I didn’t think it was going to be easy; two wasn’t enough, I was concerned,” Flyers head coach Frank Bendl said. “They come at you hard.”

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The Rams have 12 players on their roster – only two lines – but their highly-effective use is what makes them dangerous, sporting hard breakouts and always having a trailer as they move down the ice.

“They’re solid players, he just rotates through once so they keep coming at you and they don’t get tired; they never quit,” Bendl said of Fordham head coach William Beck.

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After Minarczyk’s opening netter, Brendan Ekstrom would put the Flyers ahead 2-0 with 6:29 left on the clock in the first and having better shots against the Rams’ first line.

That’s when hubris started to sink in.

“We came out strong, scored a quick two goals and I think we all fell into the idea like we’re just going to run away with the game,” the Flyer co-captain said.

Fordham fired back on two goals 32 second apart that found their way past goalie Brendan DeStasio, who has been a rock in the net this year for Chaminade (8-1-1).

“He showed that he’s mortal,” Bendl said.

That’s when their shots started to die out too, essentially taking a leap off a cliff whereas the Flyers had been outshooting their 5-2 at one pint in the first, they nosedived, allowing seven more attempts on the net while managing two more themselves. Chaminade had seven more shots in the second while Fordham had eight in the frame.

“We were saying ‘we needed more shots’; our shots died,” Bendl said. “In between the second and third period I told them ‘anything you get your hands on, throw it at the net’ and that’s exactly what we did.”

Fordham would push the score to 3-2 in the second with a goal at the one-minute mark before forward James Henry got a shot off in the corner that rocketed into the net, only to have another get by DeStasio with two seconds left.

“They definitely pressured us,” Minarczyk said. “We weren’t getting the puck out of the zone and we were trying to force it up the middle and they were taking that lane away the whole time.”

Andrew Veglucci netted two goals within 36 seconds in the third but Ram Trevor Turnbull tie it yet again at five all.

“They weren’t ready to give up at all and they kept fighting back the whole game, every goal we scored, they answered right back,” Minarczyk said. “We’re just lucky to squeak out of here with a win.”

At just under 2:20 left to go, Dillon Radin yet again came through, punching in an unassisted goal to give Chaminade the lead.

“I got the puck from Joe (Anile) and I just shot at the net and I went for the rebound, just slid it in,” he said. “Like a stream with a rock; the stream always weathers down the rock, it overcomes.”

Or just finds a way to trickle in.

1 2 3 F Fordham Prep 2 2 1 5 Chaminade 2 1 4 7

 

Chaminade Scoring Statistics Player Goals Assts. Andrew Veglucci 2 3 Michael Minarczyk 2 1 Brendan Ekstrom 1 1 James Henry 1 2 Dillon Radin 1 0

 

Chaminade Goalkeeping Goalie Shots Brandon DeStasio 23


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