Recap for games of September 17 & 18

Lucky 7 lays it on Leafs

Coppola dominates in sweep of Laconia

Closing up the locker room at The Rinx. Running errands for the team’s manager and administrators. Establishing a chemistry between the team’s established veterans and first-year players. Scoring and assisting key goals.

Mike Coppola (Old Brookville, NY/Nassau CC) is doing it all for the New York Bobcats in his second year with the team and third in the Atlantic Junior Hockey League. He set the tone for the Bobcats in their two-game sweep of Laconia (Penn.) this weekend, finishing with five goals and an assist as New York (2-0) outscored the overmatched Leafs by a combined 14-2.

“It’s Coppola’s team. He’s the older guy and the leader physically, by scoring, by offensive play, by attitude—everything,” Bobcats coach Aleksey Nikiforov said. “He’s a real leader, and the kids follow him. Right now, nobody’s close. He’s the real captain of the Bobcats.”

With team manager Debbie Spidle’s daughter Jessie wearing his No. 7 away jersey, the superstitious Coppola had a goal in each period Saturday night as the Bobcats cruised to a 7-2 victory. He made it 2-0 off an assist from forward Frank Rizzo (St. James, NY/Suffolk CC) 5:33 into the first period and upped it to 6-0 when he cleaned up the rebound of a Rizzo shot with 2:09 left in the second period.

But Coppola’s best goal came 7:19 into the third period. With the Bobcats a man down, he stole the puck at the point, pushed it up ice to Rizzo for a 2-on-1, and then, after Rizzo’s tough-angle shot was stopped, cleaned up another rebound to make it 7-1.

“Coppola’s line played very well,” said Bobcats’ first-year defenseman Oscar Von Sydow (Stockholm, Sweden/Suffolk CC). “Mike is a hard worker, and Rizzo matches him perfect with his incredible skating and puck-handling skills. Coach Aleksey has found a great match there.”

Rizzo led all Bobcats with seven points (two goals, five assists) on the weekend. He had a goal and an assist Saturday night, and then added a goal and two more assists on Sunday. All three involved passes to or from Coppola.

“Rizzo and I have been here for a while now, and last year was the only year we didn’t play [on the same line] together,” Coppola said. “I have trust in Rizzo and know where he is going to be.  Rizzo knows how to finish the puck from wherever he gets it.”

Tony Romano (Smithtown, NY/St. Anthony’s H.S.) also knows how to finish. The second-year Bobcats center added three goals and an assist this weekend, including two goals and an assist on Sunday. Fellow veteran and linemate Patrick Moriarty (Lloyd Harbor, NY/Nassau CC) added three assists, all on Sunday.

“Tony played his entire entire hockey career with Vlady. When you play with Vlady, you learn a lot. And right now I expect him to be the toughest player,” coach Nikiforov said. “This year I expect a lot from him, because he has everything—size and skills and game sense—and he gets stronger as games go on. That was his weakness.”

Several first-year Bobcats impressed coach Nikiforov, including Von Sydow, defenseman Dan Markowitz (Jericho, NY/Portledge H.S.) and forward Evan Chlanda (Bay Shore, NY/St. John the Baptist H.S.). Markowitz finished the weekend with a goal and three assists, and Chlanda had a goal and two assists on Sunday. Both have beautifully complemented the Coppola-Rizzo line.

“We need to finish up and just have commitment between defense and forwards,” coach Nikiforov said. “We want to see all five guys play together at the same time, not two guys play and everyone else watch them.”

Coppola said this year’s team is already playing at or near the same level as last year’s AJHL semifinalist squad, even without the presence of players like 2004-05 AJHL points leader Vlady Nikiforov and clutch scorer Jason DeLuca. He praised the team’s commitment to physicality—something that hurt it in the late-season losses to the AJHL champion Boston Bulldogs, his former team—and said the ice-breaking goal by center Jarrett Gold (East Setauket, NY/Suffolk CC) 3:20 into the opener was important.

“The first goal of the game on Saturday night was the biggest goal for us. Everybody was a little nervous to be playing in their first game, and after the goal I think we all relaxed a little bit,” Coppola said. “This year’s team is a lot closer than last year’s team was, and it’s only two weeks into the year. It was a good way to start off league play to give the rookies a chance to feel what [the junior elite level] is about. There are no more excuses for any of them not to know what to expect.”

Having come from the Bulldogs, Coppola knows all about how physical play can be intimidating. With Von Sydow, veteran defenseman Casey Hubbard (Ronkonkoma, NY/Suffolk CC) and the always fiery Moriarty in the mix, the Bobcats look to be the intimidators of the league this year.

“We are just a completely different team than we were last year. We are built differently, as no one on our team is scared to throw the body and no one is scared to take a hit. And the rookies we brought in are the biggest kids we have out there,” Coppola said. “Once we play a tough game and everyone realizes that the hits don’t hurt anymore than they did wherever they played last year, teams are going to have to come up with a different game plan to beat us. We have just as much speed and more depth where anyone can pick up for someone having a bad game.”

The Bobcats didn’t have their best games, but at least they were active along the boards. Forward Angelo Vrachnas (St. James, NY/Smithtown H.S. East) did his part to make the Leafs’ physical players know who was boss, once exchanging some heated words with pesky Laconia forward Josh Laliberte.

“You’re either physical or not. People have different styles of play. But when the competition got physical,” Vrachnas said, “it seemed as everyone did their part to get their nose dirty.”

Establishing that kind of mentality was task No. 1 for coach Nikiforov after last year’s disappointing 4-1 title game loss to Boston. The Bobcats took it to Laconia from start to finish last weekend, dominating in possession time and scoring chances, and seemingly pushing the Leafs of the puck at will.

“If you saw their zone and our zone, it looked like Zamboni just cleaned up one side,” explained Nikiforov.

Since that was the case, the Bobcats could have easily scored more than seven goals in each game. The players recognized that.

“We scored a lot but we also missed a lot of chances,” Coppola said. “Some of our goals this weekend were garbage goals that another goalie might have saved.  We need to be able to bury all of our chances to beat a better team like the Bulldogs.  At this level, any time you get a chance, you have to finish. You can’t be giving up golden chances.”

“I definitely thought that we could have had many goals if we finished the opportunities we had,” Vrachnas said. “But I do expect more goals the next time we play them.”

So what’s the key to finishing better?

“We just have to be a little more flexible, a little less predictable and more creative,” coach Nikiforov said. “We need more criss-cross down low and up top, more give-and-go [plays].”

Von Sydow agreed.

“We really could have scored more goals,” he said. “I know I had some great scoring chances, but it just wouldn't go in... The most important thing was that we won the games. But maybe we have to practice more on our shooting.”

They also have to expect a lot tougher competition as the season progresses. When the tougher teams come along, expect the Bobcats to hit even harder.

“For me, it's natural to play a physical game. But wait until we'll play some better teams. Then we'll really going to start using our bodies,” Von Sydow said. “When you play a team like Laconia that isn't very good, you don't use your body as much.”

Especially at the defensive end, where the Bobcats didn’t get much action this week. First-year Bobcat goalies Evan Hyndman (Monument, CO) and Doug Danzi (Nesconset, NY/Smithtown H.S. West) helped limit the Leafs to two goals on 61 shots.

“I’m very happy right now. Both goalies play very well, very stable,” Nikiforov said. “These goalies are more stable right now than last year.”

The Bobcats as a whole, Nikiforov said, are more flexible in their ability to be well-rounded players. Now they just need to get in prime physical shape. That’s why Nikiforov had the team doing off-ice workouts both before and after Sunday’s game.

“We have to pick it up physically,” Nikiforov said. “We have to just keep going, keep going.”

If so, there may be no stopping them once the AJHL playoffs roll around this March.