A third straight second-place tournament finish hasn’t discouraged the New York Junior Bobcats. In fact, their performance at the prestigious Northwood School Invitational in Lake Placid January 21-23 was nothing short of groundbreaking.

Although the Bobcats suffered a 4-2 loss to Long Island rival New York Apple Core in the tourney title game, the setback came on the heels of two emotionally draining victories. In the Bobcats’ final preliminary round game Saturday, January 22, they thoroughly defeated the two-time defending Northwood Invitational champion Boston Junior Bruins, 4-2. And then, in the tourney semifinals, they ended a four-game skid against their AJHL rival Boston Bulldogs with a dramatic 3-2, come-from-behind overtime victory.

“I think everyone was a little upset with the loss to the Apple Core because it’s a game everyone wanted to win, but now that it’s a day later everyone’s pretty satisfied,” said forward and assistant captain Patrick Moriarty (Lloyd Harbor, NY/Nassau CC), whose goal 4:26 into overtime shocked the Bulldogs and moved the Bobcats into the tourney finals. “We came up a little short, but overall we showed and we proved that we’re a good team.”

Perhaps more importantly, the Bobcats showed they are a team of character. After defeating the Detroit Belle Tire, 6-3, on Friday night and National Sports Academy, 4-1, on Saturday morning, the Bobcats were pitted in what many scouts thought was a David-versus-Goliath match-up against the Junior Bruins. Several Bobcat players seemed intimidated before the game, according to head coach Aleksey Nikiforov (Hauppauge, NY), because they knew how much older and more experienced the Bruins were.

“Emotionally we were scared, because there was so many people talking, ‘Junior Bruins, Junior Bruins,’” coach Nikiforov recalled. “But I tried to tell them, ‘It’s just a game.’”

Defensemen Justin Porpora (Hauppauge, NY/Smithtown H.S.) and Evan Lucas (Marquette, MI), forwards Jason DeLuca (East Moriches, NY/Westhampton Beach H.S.) and Vlady Nikiforov (Hauppauge, NY/Hauppauge H.S.), and captain Mike Coppola (Old Brookville, NY/Nassau CC) were unflappable against the Bruins. DeLuca cast the first stone just 2:06 into the game, netting a one-timer off assists from Lucas and Nikiforov. Coppola made it 2-0 when he tapped home a Nikiforov assist 12 minutes later, and the Bobcats were starting to believe they belonged in the same arena.

“He was definitely a captain in this tournament,” Vlady Nikiforov said of Coppola. “He took the leadership really well. He just worked his ass off every game. And key scored key goals, too… That’s what we need on this team.”

Nevertheless, the Bobcats were not overconfident in the locker room before heading back out onto the ice for the second 25-minute half.

“We felt like we could have been up by a couple of more goals, and we knew the Bruins would throw their best punch in the opening 10 minutes of the second half,” Bobcats General Manager Ron Kinnear (Port Jefferson, NY) said. “But we came out and met their effort, shift by shift, which I thought was crucial.”

The Bruins had some life after Alex Berry scored a power-play goal 14:07 into the second half, but the Bobcats never wavered, regaining a two-goal lead less than three minutes later as DeLuca converted assists from Porpora and forward Frank Rizzo (St. James, NY/Suffolk CC). Coppola added an empty net goal off a perfect clearing pass from Porpora in the game’s final minute.

“We felt like we had something prove, and we proved it,” Kinnear said. “We wanted to show that a top team from the AJHL could play with and beat the top team in the EJHL.”

Coach Nikiforov agreed. “It’s a great thing for the Atlantic Hockey League,” he said, noting that three of the four semifinalist teams – the Bobcats, Bulldogs and New Jersey Rockets – represent the AJHL. “It is big for our league to beat EJHL teams, who think they are better.”

His son reflected the sentiment. “They [the Bruins] were supposed to be one of the top teams in the EJHL, so [the Bobcats’ win over them] looks good for our league,” said Vlady, who led the team at Northwood with seven points (2 goals, 5 assists) and was named to the All-Tournament team. “More than half of [the Bruins] team already committed to Division I colleges, so they’re really stacked.”

The Bobcats’ offense is obviously stacked, but their defense also proved to be no slouch against the Bruins. While goaltender Chris Molinaro (Nesconset, NY) stopped 31 of 32 shots, Porpora, another All-Tournament selection, spearheaded a lockdown effort against the Bruins – the EJHL’s top-ranked junior elite team.

According to Nick Grasso (Kings Park, NY/Kings Park H.S.), one of the Bobcats’ better backchecking forwards, the Bobcats were able to shut down the Bruins’ attack by keying on Berry. “The main thing we did is we stopped Berry, who is their shooter. Every power play he’s setting up for a big shot, and we stopped him. That was one big key right there,” Grasso said. “Our defense was very strong. Everyone wanted it, so everyone was going all out. Everyone gave their all because we wanted to prove to the EJHL that we’re good enough to be in it. We were waiting all year to prove it, and we finally got the opportunity and we took advantage of it.”

“Our top six defensemen were all rock-solid,” Kinnear said. “I think our size was really important. All of our top six are 5-11 or [bigger], and the Bruins couldn’t generate much against them. And when they did, Chris Molinaro made the big saves.”

Against the Bulldogs on Sunday morning, however, it was backup goalie Joe Spagnoli (Cranston, RI/Suffolk CC) sprawling all over the ice to keep the Bobcats’ in the game. His team trailing 2-0 at the half, Spagnoli came off the bench to shut out the Bulldogs in the second half and overtime. Spagnoli’s sequence of highlight-reel saves in the early stages of the second half gave the Bobcats the boost they needed.

“Ironically, the key moment in that game was probably when Aleksey put Joe Spagnoli in for Molinaro,” Kinnear said. “Spagnoli just made save after great save. He stood on his head until we responded.”

 The Bobcats finally scored 4:03 into the second half, when Porpora converted an assist from Nikiforov. Porpora said the Bobcats never stopped believing they could come back. “The Bulldogs had the momentum in that series [with the Bobcats]. But that Bruins game was a big confidence boost to us, so we knew we could overcome the odds,” he said. “After I scored [to make it 2-1], we just dominated from there. You could tell the Bulldogs were playing to just hold onto the lead, and everyone knew we had the momentum at that point.”

Porpora made sure the Bobcats kept the momentum ten minutes later, when he dove to the ice to keep the puck in the offensive zone. Porpora slid the puck over to Grasso, who spotted Rizzo wide open. Rizzo’s one-timer evened the score, 2-2, with 10:56 left in regulation.

But the most dramatic goal of the tournament had yet to be scored. And this time, the Bobcats – who had allowed the Bulldogs to rally from two-goal deficits in the finals of both the Waterville Valley and USA Hockey/Portland Showcase tournaments earlier this winter – returned the favor.

The moments leading up to Moriarty’s golden goal played out like a Hollywood script. With both teams pitted in a defensive stalemate for the previous 15 minutes, coach Nikiforov stood up and called the winning shot from the bench.

“Right before I went on the ice, Aleksey said I was going to score that goal,” Moriarty recalled. “And I went out the next shift and scored.”

Coppola set up the play when he got free down the left wing. Controlling the puck on a 2-on-0 advantage, Coppola sent a cross-ice pass to Moriarty at the last minute. “I just waited for the goalie to go down,” Moriarty said, “and moved to my right and put it into a wide-open net.”

The game-winner cleared the Bobcat players from the bench, who skated over to the boards and mobbed each other. The scene in the locker room was even better, and for good reason – the Bobcats had lost each of their last four games against the Bulldogs. With the victory, they evened the hotly contested season series at four games apiece.

“After the goal, everyone in the locker room was going nuts,” Moriarty said. “It was a good high for everyone.”

The only problem was that the Bobcats had less than three hours to recover for the title-game showdown with Apple Core. It was obvious that the Bobcats had poured every ounce of energy into their previous two wins, because they squandered a 2-0 lead against Apple Core before halftime and were then outscored 2-0 in the second half.

“Once we were winning 2-0, we just sat back and they [Apple Core] got hungry,” Vlady Nikiforov said. “Even though it was 2-0, we should have kept on going and kept scoring, kept going to the net. But they outplayed us that game.”

“[Winning the two games prior] took a lot of emotion,” said forward Tony Romano (Smithtown, NY/St. Anthony’s H.S.), “and when we got into the finals, starting in the second half we were fatigued from the previous two games we played.”

“Emotion games drag a lot more out of you than just regular hockey games,” Moriarty said. “I think being in these situations earlier in the season will make a lot of our younger guys ready for that same situation [in the AJHL playoffs].”

“I don’t want to use any excuses, but we were out of gas [in the finals],” added Grasso, noting that the Apple Core was able to rest its players in the latter stages of a less-contested semifinal victory over the Rockets. “When we played Apple Core, it was an even game. I think we even outshot them.”

But they didn’t outscore them, and that’s the bottom line in hockey. Nevertheless, the Bobcats appear to have earned a measure of respect from an Apple Core organization that had balked at scheduling an inter-league contest against the Bobcats earlier this season. According to Kinnear, Apple Core management will now consider playing a much-anticipated home-and-home series before the end of the 2004-05 season. The Bobcats do have bigger fish to fry – their ultimate goal is to win the AJHL Playoff Tournament March 11-13 in Salem, New Hampshire – but it would still be nice to knock off the mighty Apple Core along the way.

“Many of those kids [on the Apple Core junior elite team] are my dad’s students for years and they’re always talking that they’re much better than us,” Vlady Nikiforov said. “But now they can see that we are right there with them… So hopefully next time we will win.”

If and when there is a “next time,” you can bet the Bobcats will be better prepared to play. Although the Bobcats’ excuse that they were physically and emotionally drained by the time they reached the tourney finals might sound like sour grapes, no one can deny that they had the most difficult schedule of any team at the Northwood School Invitational.

“We played the three toughest teams in the tournament,” Porpora said of the Bruins, Bulldogs and Apple Core. “We proved that we could play with the best EJHL teams because we beat the best,” he said, referring to the league-leading Bruins, “and I think next time we will beat Apple Core.”

Just like the Bobcats, however, Apple Core probably can’t wait until next time, too.

Bobcats’ Scoring at the

Northwood Invitational

PLAYER           GOALS    ASSISTS    PTS

Vlady Nikiforov         3             5             8

Justin Porpora         1             4             5

Mike Coppola          2             2             4

Jason DeLuca          3             0             3

Patrick Moriarty       2             1             3

Nick Grasso            1             2             3

Andrew Gagnon       1             1             2

Tom Galiani             2             0             2

Evan Lucas             1             1             2

Jarrett Gold             1             1             2

Frank Rizzo             1             1             2

Jordan Behler          0             2             0

James Marcou         1             0             1

Mark DeMasi           0             1             1

Tony Romano          0             1             1

Totals: 4-1-0 record; 19 goals for, 11 against

            PRELIMS: FRIDAY, JANUARY 21

                                                   1    2    FINAL

            N.Y. BOBCATS                3    3        6

            Detroit Belle Tire            2    1        3

Goals – NYB: Nikiforov (assisted by Behler; 4:08 into first half), Gagnon (Porpora; 8:21 1st),  Nikiforov (unassisted; 14:40 1st), Lucas (Nikiforov, Romano; 6:09 2nd), Moriarty (unassisted; 19:24 2nd), Marcou (Grasso; 21:41 2nd); DBT: Yearego (Rugal; 7:30 1st), D’Alessandro (Atsoff, Sand; 12:41 1st), Sand (Juliano, Rugal; 22:48 2nd). Saves – N/A.

            PRELIMS: SATURDAY, JANUARY 22

                                                   1    FINAL

            N.Y. BOBCATS                4       4

            Nat’l Sports Acad.           1       1

Goals – NYB: Galiani (DeMasi; N/A), DeLuca (Gagnon; 17:13), Grasso (Behler; 19:40), Galiani (Nikiforov, Porpora); NSA: Pratt (Cassidy; N/A). Saves – N/A.

            PLAYOFF QUALIFIER: JANUARY 22

                                                   1    2    FINAL

            Boston Jr. Bruins            0    1        1

            N.Y. BOBCATS                2    2        4

Goals – NYB: DeLuca (Lucas, Nikiforov: 2:06 1st), Coppola (Nikiforov; 14:12 1st), DeLuca (Porpora, Rizzo; 17:49 2nd), Coppola (Porpora; 24:59 2nd); BJB: Berry (Donavan, Kimball;14:07 2nd). Saves – NYB: Molinaro 31 (32 shots, 50 minutes); BJB: Hamilton 21 (25 shots, 50 minutes).

            SEMIFINALS: SUNDAY, JANUARY 23

                                                   1    2   0T   FINAL

            N.Y. BOBCATS                0    2    1        3

            Boston Bulldogs              2    0    0        2

Goals – NYB: Porpora (Nikiforov, 4:01 2nd), Rizzo (Grasso; 14:04 2nd), Moriarty (Coppola; 4:26 OT); BB: Costa (Perreault, Karlov; 6:09 1st), Moreton (Moore, Adler; 11:45 1st). Saves – N/A.

            TITLE GAME: SUNDAY, JANUARY 23

                                                   1    2    FINAL

            N.Y. BOBCATS                2    0        2

            N.Y. Apple Core              2    2        4

Goals – NYB: Nikiforov (Gold; N/A 1st), Gold (Coppola, Moriarty; N/A 1st); NYAC: Heinz (Buttafuoco; N/A 1st), Coiro (Galiotti; 24:00 1st), Keenan (Heinz; 5:00 2nd), Karwoski (N/A; 13:52 2nd). Saves – N/A.