On must-win Monday (12/30), the YDE Thunder JV hockey team improved to 6-2 on the season, with a 4-2 victory over the MDY Warriors in front of a raucous crowd in the Thunder Dome.
YDE started slow, but some great defense by Ikey Greenstein and Steven Shemula, kept YDE at bay. Later in the 1st period, some offensive YDE pressure led to a goal, as Jacob Sutton, batted one in to give the Thunder a 1-0 lead after 1 period of play.
The late 1st period surge, carried over into the 2nd, as some great YDE defense by Sammy Franco led to a goal, as Ikey Dweck socked one in to double the Thunder lead.
But the Warriors would rally, as an Ikey Saff wrist shot would get by the the hosts goaltender in Eddie Khezrie and cut the YDE lead in half at 2-1. The rest of the second period, saw the YDE defense kill off some penalties, and Eddie make some big saves to keep the Thunder in front.
Realizing a potential home playoff game was at stake, YDE started the 3rd strong, applying some pressure on MDY netminder Saully Esses, with the intense crowd being in on every shot that YDE put on goal. Finally ,after a few minutes, YDE broke through on a blast from the red-hot stick of Sammy Franco, pushing the YDE lead back to two once again.
The YDE defense would step up after that, with Jacob Sutton, Steven Shemula, Jack Harary and Ikey Greenstein all getting in on the action, while Eddie Khezrie stopped anything that got past them. MDY would get one back with 4:58 remaining, as Elliot Pichoto would slide one in from full court, but only for the Thunder to answer 6 seconds later, as Sammy Franco hit up Bobby Tawil for his team-leading 13th goal of the season, to essentially salt the game away and give YDE a 4-2 victory.
HONERABLE MENTION:
Despite the loss, Joe V Gindi played hard and seemed to inspire the Warriors(1-9), to stay in the fight with his physical play.
3 STARS OF THE GAME:
3 Bobby Tawil
2 Ikey Greenstein
1 Sammy Franco ( Game ball)
UP NEXT:
The Thunder (6-2), became the first YDE hockey team ever to clinch a playoff spot and now have clinched a home playoff game as well.
They have two regular season games remaining, with the first one being a possible playoff preview against the MTA Lions (3-3-1-1), on January 5th at 7:30PM, from the Thunder Dome.
Hear that Thunder!
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