Another great championship game on Staten Island. This article was sent to us by a very proud aunt of two of the players from Sea, Zack and Tyler Malone. Although Sea did not win this division, Aunt Leah could not be more proud considering Tyler was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes several years ago, and now he's healthy and a great defense. And Zack was Staten Island All-Star for 2009 and 2010.
From SILive.com
St. Joseph by-the-Sea @ Monsignor Farrell - Boys Ice Hockey
Monsignor Farrell advances to CHSHL A championship after beating St. Joseph by-the-Sea in deciding game of semifinal series
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Monsignor Farrell's Dave DeFranco (27) looks to score a goal against St. Joseph by-the-Sea goalie Zack Malone. - (Derek Alvez/Staten Island Advance)
Vin DiMare (17) had Monsignor Farrell's first goal in the win against St. Joseph by-the-Sea's. - (Derek Alvez/Staten Island Advance)
Monsignor Farrell split the first two games of its CHSHL A division semifinals with St. Joseph by-the-Sea, but the Lions certainly weren’t playing their best hockey.
That all changed Friday night as Farrell set the tempo from the beginning with a renewed intensity, tough defense, solid goaltending and team-oriented offense and posted a 6-3 triumph in the deciding game of the series in front of a packed house at Abe Stark Rink in Brooklyn.
The second-seeded Lions (14-5-0) advanced to the finals against No. 1 St. Anthony’s (14-4-0) in a rematch of last year’s title series won by the Friars in three games.
The first game will be Sunday at 7:45 p.m. at Abe Stark. Game 2 (Friday, 8 p.m.) and Game 3 (Saturday, if necessary at 6:40 p.m.) will be at the Ice Hutch in Mount Vernon.
“We talked about it in the locker room. Actually, (assistant) coach Carmine (Manna) said we have to dictate the tempo to them,” said defenseman John Pallis. “We can’t let them tell us what to do. And I think we did a good job of that.”
“They’re a great team. They have a lot of speed and they have great talent. To take a team like that to three games,” said Sea head coach Anthony Larca. “I’m very, very happy with the way my kids played all year. They worked hard. Unfortunately, it’s bad to go out like this, but I’m very proud of my boys.”
Third-seeded Sea (11-8-0) almost had the game’s first goal 50 seconds in when Slava Okshin rifled a slap shot off goalie Steve Cappas that trickled toward the goal line, but was cleared away at the last second.
That turned out to be a huge momentum shift as Farrell netted the first two scores 66 seconds apart by Vin DiMare and James Walsh midway through the first period. Some crisp passing led to a Matthew Manfredi goal with 5:29 remaining to get Sea on the board.
The Lions came storming out of the gates in the next stanza and were rewarded with goals from Nick Thorgersen and Tom Mandala. Sea netted a power-play goal with 1:02 remaining to make it 4-2 heading into the final period.
The script didn’t change in the third period as Dave DeFranco and Sean Gargin netted goals in the first three minutes and it was 6-2.
“You can’t go into the playoffs relying on one line. The whole team has to contribute and that’s we did here tonight,” said Thorgersen, one of six Farrell players to get a goal.
The Vikings did score again on Anthony DeFede’s power-play goal with 3:43 remaining, but the hole was too deep.
“I think we realized in about the last 30 seconds of Game 2 that we had more opportunities (late) then we did all game,” said Pallis. “We played with that desperation all game (last night) and we had to come out with that ‘W’ because we think that championship belongs to us.”
NOTES: Cappas made 27 saves while Zach Malone stopped 31 shots ... Farrell’s Nick Priola also had two assists ... Manfredi was called up from the JV team prior to the series ... Sea was 2 for 5 on the power play; Farrell was 0 for 1 ... The Vikings played this year in the top-tier A division for the second time and were making their A playoff debut ... Including these semifinal games, Farrell now leads the all-time series with Sea, 4-2-1.
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