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Recap for games of March 22 & 23: AJHL Semifinals & Championship Game
Youth & depth make them kings
With MVP Romano hurt, younger-but-deeper Bobcats rally
from two-goal deficit to beat defending champion Bulldogs
& clinch organization’s first-ever postseason league crown
Vlady Nikiforov, last year’s leading scorer, is long gone, now leading the Barrie Colts in the Ontario Hockey League playoffs. And Michael Coppola, the team’s head captain and emotional leader, finished his junior career more than a month ago when he turned 21.
So when Tony Romano, the team’s all-time scoring leader and the league’s 2005-06 co-MVP, went down with a shoulder injury in the opening minutes of the Atlantic Junior Hockey League championship game on March 23, the Bobcats were in big trouble, right?
Wrong. Trailing 6-4 midway through the second period, a formidable cast of Bobcats veterans and rookies scored three goals in a span of 4:32 as New York rallied for a 9-6 victory at the Bulldogs’ home arena in Walpole, Mass. and earned the program’s first-ever postseason title.
“When Tony got hit, it was so early in the game where it really didn’t swing the momentum in anyone’s favor,” said defenseman Michael DeMayo, who could only watch as Romano unexpectedly took a clean check and fell awkwardly into the boards, reinjuring the sprained shoulder that had slowed him for a few games earlier this season. “Once we saw Tony was probably done for the game, nothing had to be said. Everyone just knew their role was going to be even bigger and that we all had worked hard all season to get to this point. Just because our top scorer was hurt didn’t mean we were done.”
Not in the least. A day after they scored the last four goals in the final 24 minutes of a 7-4 semifinal win over the Hartford Junior Wolfpack, the Bobcats scored the final five goals against Boston thanks to the rejuvenated play of veteran center Jarrett Gold and rookie goaltender Evan Hyndman. While Gold started the five-goal run with a power-play goal off assists from forward Patrick Moriarty and defenseman Justin Porpora—he also started the ’Cats’ game-ending four-goal run with the equalizer off a Moriarty assist in the semifinals—Hyndman bounced back from his shaky effort the night before, when he was pulled after allowing the Wolf Pack to take a 4-3 lead. He stopped 20 of 21 Bulldog shots, including a handful of point-blank opportunities, as Boston was held scoreless over the game’s final 31 minutes.
“Oh boy, Evan came up huge for us right then and there,” said Bobcats rookie forward Angelo Vrachnas. “[Starting goalie] Dougie [Danzi] just wasn’t on his game, which happens to all of us. [Hyndman] came in relief and just showed what kind of a goalie he can be under pressure.”
And Gold proved he can be a prime-time player without the on-ice presence of longtime linemate Coppola. He totaled four goals in the two games, including the two streak-starting scores and a pair of power-play tallies, and was the team’s unofficial MVP of the Final Four.
“It looked like since Michael Coppola left, Gold missed his old buddy. But this time—maybe it was his maturation, the scouts, I don’t know—he played his game,” Bobcats coach Aleksey Nikiforov said, noting that he “can’t remember” any of Gold’s goals last week because he had “too many.”
Not to be overlooked, though, was the continued clutch play of rookie forward Matt Mangene, who combined with Gold to score the Bobcats’ final four goals against Hartford. He netted the game-winner off a Stephen Schultz assist to give the Bobcats the lead for good, 5-4, with 7:38 left and then, after Gold scored a power-play goal off an assist from Romano with 5:16 left, notched an unassisted empty-netter with 1:30 left to seal the deal.
“Goldie is a great kid. I felt a lot of joy for him when he came up big for us. You could almost sense he was going to just break through and come up big,” Vrachnas said. “And Matty is an amazing kid also. He is a very talented player. When he gets the puck he is dangerous, and he showed it by putting the puck in the net.”
Mangene also added a goal and an assist in the championship game.
“In every game he’s very close to getting on the scoreboard, and this time he was in the right place,” Nikiforov said. “He is one of the best players right now. He played unbelievable. He stepped up right now. He finished up so strong. I’m just so happy.”
Both games were see-saw battles that saw New York—a team that had stumbled to the finish of its regular-season, losing three of their final five games—seize control when it mattered most. Nikiforov attributed his team’s down-the-stretch dominance to its fearlessness, as the much-younger Bobcats were finally able to knock off the Big Bad Wolf of the AJHL that the defending champion Bulldogs had become.
“The semifinals and finals really just showed what our team was all about. In both games every line contributed in some way, and every player had an impact on the game,” said DeMayo, who two days later participated with Hyndman, center Oscar Von Sydow and Porpora at the Hockey Night in Boston. “Even with the few down points in the last couple weeks, we all showed up to play when it mattered most.”
Especially Gold, Schultz and Von Sydow, who in that order scored three quick goals as the Bobcats turned a 6-4 deficit into a 7-6 lead with 4:45 left in the second period of the championship game. After Gold’s streak-starting score, Schultz netted the equalizer off an assist from defenseman Michael Marcou with 8:19 left.
Schultz won the puck in the right corner and, when he noticed that Bulldogs goalie Aaron Runner wasn’t set, fired a shot off of Runner’s pads from an improbable angle only 58 seconds after Gold made it a one-goal game. Then Von Sydow got the puck in the right corner and swung behind the net before throwing in the wrap-around game-winner, his team-leading seventh of the season.
Playing the final game of his junior career, hard-working veteran forward Frank Rizzo and Moriarty each added empty-net goals in the final 36 seconds of regulation to help make a winner out of Hyndman, who stopped 20 of 21 shots in a mop-up role to finish the season 26-2-3.
In the semifinals, Romano—who is expected to be selected in the upcoming NHL draft but will play at Cornell for two years minimum—tallied a goal and two assists to increase his point-scoring streak to 17 games. Danzi stopped all nine shots he faces in a 25-minute relief role to improve to 25-6-1.
The Bobcats’ response to Romano’s injury—rallying behind him rather than worrying about his absence—was a good sign for the 2006-07 Bobcats team. While Romano will be skating at Cornell, likely captain Moriarty must lead a younger nucleus of players like Mangene and Vrachnas in their title defense.
“I was talking to Mike Marcou in the locker room, we both agreed it was almost like the movie Friday Night Lights, but we wanted to make sure the ending result was the opposite—that we won the game,” Vrachnas said. “We are a huge family; we see each other almost everyday of our lives. We weren’t going to let this injury tear apart a family, so we came together knowing that we must win this championship.”
It’s a family that, despite the losses of Romano, Rizzo and defensive leader Casey Hubbard, will largely remain intact.
“We have a good group of players that will stay. We have a good base [with] Moriarty, Gold, DeMayo, Porpora, Mangene, Danzi, Vrachnas, Chlanda,” Nikiforov said. “Believe me, that’s enough to be successful for next year. And definitely we have good recruiting work and we’ll get good players.”
Don’t call them a dynasty yet. Another year like this, though, and the Bobcats could become the league’s first two-time winner.
AJHL SEMIFINALS: MARCH 22
1 2 3 FINAL
Hartford Wolf Pack 2 2 0 4
N.Y. BOBCATS 3 1 3 7
Goals – NYB: Blaszcyk (assisted by Conway; 12:53 1st), Porpora (Schultz; 14:01 1st), Romano (Moriarty; 16:54 1st), Gold (Moriarty; 16:49 2nd), Mangene (Schultz; 12:22 3rd), Gold (Romano; 14:44 3rd), Mangene (unassisted; 18:30 3rd, EN); HWP: Olsen (R. Criscuolo; 0:12 1st), Gillen (Beauregard; 5:54 1st, PP), A. Criscuolo (unassisted; 11:40 2nd), Gillen (R. Criscuolo, Schroeder; 14:26 2nd). Saves – NYB: Hyndman 15 (19 shots, 35 minutes), Danzi 9 (9 shots, 25 minutes); HWP: Donovan 29 (35 shots, 60 minutes).
AJHL CHAMPIONSHIP: MARCH 23
1 2 3 FINAL
Boston Bulldogs 2 4 0 6
N.Y. BOBCATS 3 4 2 9
Goals – NYB: Mangene (assisted by Schultz, Vrachnas; 5:36 1st), Gold (Markowitz; 9:36 1st), Schultz (Vrachnas; 8:25 1st), Blaszcyk (Von Sydow, Chlanda; 3:23 2nd), Gold (Moriarty, Porpora; 10:43 2nd, PP), Schultz (Marcou; 11:41 2nd), Von Sydow (Satin; 15:15 2nd), Rizzo (Mangene, Porpora; 19:24 3rd, EN), Moriarty (Rizzo; 19:40 3rd, EN); BB: Nolin (Moran, Rutt; 3:14 1st), Rutt (Moran; 13:06 1st), Nolin (unassisted; 2:45 2nd), Anctil (Nicholes, Costa; 4:31 2nd), DeLuca (Costa, Guerin; 6:09 2nd), DeLuca (unassisted; 8:51 2nd). Saves – NYB: Danzi 10 (15 shots, 26 minutes), Hyndman 20 (21 shots, 34 minutes); BB: Buchan 5 (9 shots, 19 minutes), Runner 19 (22 shots, 40 minutes).
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