There is nothing like Saturday night high school hockey and the match up this past Saturday between the Rye Garnets and the Mamaroneck Tigers was a good one!
Fans came out for both teams to the revamped and much brighter Hommocks Arena. Thank you to the Rye fans for travelling on a Saturday night and cheering on their Garnets– the players told me after the game on Saturday that they really appreciated it!
Rye faced-off against a very strong Mamaroneck team. The Tigers came into the game undefeated in their opening 3 games, including 2 shutouts, 11 total goals, and an emotional “stunning” 3-2 overtime win the night before at Hommocks over “upstate power Ithaca” according to Mike Dougherty at Lohud Sports.
It was a tightly contested, back and forth match. Mamaroneck prevailed with 46 seconds left in the game to win 2-1. “I was very happy with how we played against Mamaroneck. We have played better each game, and against Mamaroneck, we played a very strong game. We easily could have won that game. We generated 4 breakaways and if even 1 of those goes in, we win. We played strong defensively, limiting their quality chances and played a good transition game. We are moving in the right direction.” Coach Thomas said of the game.
Again the Garnets held off their opponent, holding the Tigers scoreless until the last minute of the second period. In the first period the Garnets had to fight off an early four minute penalty and ended the period being outshot by the Tigers 13 to 7. The second period saw more penalty trouble for the Garnets, but again they killed off two Mamaroneck power plays successfully. The Tigers scored with one minute remaining in the frame to take a 1-0 lead going into the third.
Both teams saved their best for the last period, no penalties and back and forth play with a slight the edge to Mamaroneck. But with four minutes remaining in the game Rye scored! Aidan Lavelle fired a one-time slap shot from just inside the blueline that found Tommy O’Brien in front of the goal, Tommy quickly buried the rebound into the Tigers net. The game was knotted at 1-1. But Mamaroneck rallied back, with 46 seconds left in the third period the Tigers sprung out on a 2-on-1 and although goalie Nat Deen got a piece of the shot it hopped off his pad and into the net. The Garnets had one good chance in the dying seconds of the game with their net empty but could not find the equalizer.
Highlights of the game: goal by Junior Tommy O’Brien assisted by Junior Aidan Lavelle; the Tigers outshot the Garnets 35-24; Rye went 0/2 on the power play versus Mamaroneck going 0/4.
Coach Peter Thomas selected Tommy O’Brien as the Player of the Game.
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BIG GAME coming up next Wednesday Dec 17 – 40th ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION & ALUMNI GAME – at 7:45pm at Playland v. White Plains.
Festivities will include an Alumni reception, Rhythm On Rye performing the national anthem at center ice, a tribute to former Coaches and Alumni, and the Rye High School Pep Band.
Come out and support your #HockeyGarnets on December 17th, be loud and cheer them on!
New Website: www.RyeVarsityHockey.com pictures, schedule, articles and lots more!
Twitter: follow us live during the game and between games at @RyeVarsityHocky (no space for the “e”)
Home (Playland) Schedule for 2014-2015
Wed 12/17/2014** 7:45PM RYE v. WHITE PLAINS
Wed 1/7/2015 7:45PM RYE v. JOHN JAY
Wed 1/14/2015# % 7:45PM RYE v. RCDS
Wed 1/21/2015 % 7:45PM RYE v. NEW ROCHELLE
Wed 1/28/2015 7:45PM RYE v. SUFFERN HS
Wed 2/4/2015 7:45PM RYE v. NORTH ROCKLAND
Fri 2/6/2014 # 4:45PM RCDS v. RYE at RCDS Rink in Rye
Wed 2/11/2015 !$ 7:45PM RYE v. PELHAM
Wed 2/12/2015 Sr 8:00PM RYE v. MONROE WOODBURY
** 40th Anniversary Celebration Game
# Battle for Rye
! Annual Rivalry Game
% Hockey vs. Hunger Game
$ Hockey Fights Cancer Game
Sr Senior Night
