Courier Observer reads: St. Lawrence Centrals wins its Christmas Tournament SATURDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2014 By RYNE R. MARTIN BRASHER FALLS - A three-goal spurt in a 2 minute stretch St. Lawrence Central set the stage for the Larries to skate to a 9-2 victory over Norwood-Norfolk Saturday in a showdown between two Division II clubs that entered the championship game of the Larries’ annual Christmas Tournament with unblemished records. Coach Mickey Locke said the score was somewhat deceptive and credited his goaltender, Nate Burnett, with keeping his team in the game in the early going when the visiting Icemen were carrying the play. “I thought Nate was real stellar in the first part of the hockey. He was playing at a high level and the rest of the team finally caught up to him. We could have easily been down 2-0 early,” he said. The challenge for the Larries grew at the 10:39 mark of the opening period when the team’s top offensive threat, Lukas Arquiett, was whistled for a major penalty and game misconduct for boarding. But the Larries were able to kill off the penalty and Luke Peets broke the scoreless tie 1:43 into the middle frame when he tipped a Kody Kocsis feed into the N-N net. Haydn St. Hilaire, who had notched assists on all four of Lukas Arquiett’s goals in a 5-1 victory over the Islanders Friday night, was also credited with an assist. Nate Stickney doubled the lead at the 6:12 mark when he beat N-N netminder Brandon Richards with a wrister from the circle before Austin Cousineau closed the gap to 2-1 10:14 into the middle stanza as Norwood-Norfolk kept pressure on the Larries after St. Lawrence Central killed off the powerplay. But the visitor’s momentum was quickly chilled by an offensive outburst by the Larries. St. Hilaire slid back to the point with one of his team’s defenseman working down low was able to sneak a wrister from the point past Richards just 42 seconds after the Icemen had trimmed the Larries lead to 2-1. Peets scored his second of the game when he was left alone on far side of the crease and parlayed a Kocsis feed into a 4-1 lead at the 11:43 mark. And then Will Arquiett finished off the flurry with a Sportscenter goal just 47 seconds later when he was able to get off a shot from his knees after he was dragged down in the slot area. “I think Will’s goal came at an important time. It kind of killed any hope for a comeback,” Locke suggested. The dean of the north country’s hockey coaching community said he had challenged his team to step up after losing Lukas Arquiett for the rest of the game. “I told them they were going to have to dig deep, and we were going to find out what they made of. I thought we responded well,” he said. Burnett, who finished his day with 33 saves, had his own version of his coach’s message. He said his teammates had to man the oars after losing their engine when their senior forward was booted from the game. The Larries built on their lead when Trent Dow scored a shorthanded tally after taking advantage of a turnover in the Icemen’s slot and then Kocsis netted a breakaway marker on a feed from Stickney to give his team a 7-1 lead. Locke said he was pleased to see Dow’s name on the scoresheet. “Trent is such a solid player defensively I was glad to see him rewarded offensively. He had move up when Lukas went out,” his coach noted. Austin Cousineau netted his second of the night with just under 4 minutes left in the game when he took a feed from Coby Munson off a faceoff deep in the Larries’ zone just 4 seconds into a N-N powerplay to make in a 7-2 game. St. Hilaire stepped out of the corner to score his second goal of the afternoon with just under 2 minutes left in the contest and defenseman Owen Houle put an exclamation point on the win when he took a Jack Pullano feed and blasted it into the Larries’ ninth goal. Locke wasn’t focused on the nine-goal outing after the game. He was talking about his team’s defensive play. “I thought our defensive play in the neutral zone was real strong today. We knew we needed to not allow them generate their speed in the neutral zone, and we did that,” he said. Burnett said the victory was an important early season marker for a team whose season was ended by Norwood-Norfolk last season in the Division II championship game. “It showed what our team is actually made up of. This was an important game for us. It’s our own tournament and a rivalry kind of game,” the tournament’s Most Valuable Player said. —— GAME NOTES: Brandon Richards (13) and Grant Van Buren (18) combined for 31 saves for Norwood-Norfolk. Van Buren replaced Richards after the Larries took a 4-1 lead. .. Coach Paul Durant lost two players to injuries during the game, including senior forward Tristen Harvey, who left the game with an upper body injury in the second period... Tournament MVP Burnett was joined on the All-Tournament Team by Jeffrey Smith, Saranac; Cam Moreau,Islanders; Zeb Brown, N-N; Austin Cousineau, N-N. Haydn St. Hilaire, SLC; and Nate Stickney... The Islanders netted an overtime victory over Saranac in the tournament’s early game Saturday afternoon... The Larries’ Lukas Arquiett did not receive a game DQ so he will be back in the lineup when St. Lawrence Central hosts Massena on Friday. Period 1: No Scoring. Period 2: 1:43, 1. SLC, Peets-Kocsis, Rose. 6:12 2. SLC, Stickney-St. Hilaire. 10:14, 3. N-N A. Cousineau-Palmer. 10:56, 4. SLC, St. Hilaire-Dow, Stickney. 11:43. 5. SLC, Peets-Kocsis, 12:35, 6. SLC, W. Arquiett-unassisted. Period 3: -, 7. SLC, Dow-unassisted (SH). 9:11, 8. SLC, Kocsis-Stickney. 11:15, 9. N-N, A. Cousineau-Munson (PP). 13:07, 10. SLC, St. Hilaire. -, SLC, Houle-Pullano. Saves: SLC, Burnett, 33. N-N, Richards, 13, 26:43, 4 ga; Van Buren, 18, 18:17, 5 ga; N-N total, 31 saves.
Posted on: Sun, 21 Dec 2014 01:33:03 +0000
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