Garden City Wings Ice Hockey Club |
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The Garden City Wings Varsity ice hockey team began their 32nd season in the Nassau High School
Hockey League with an opening night 4-3 victory over a strong Bethpage High School team. The game
started with Garden City dominating the play. Aaron Kim scored the first goal of the season in the
second minute of the game on a slap shot from just inside the blue line. Garden City continued the
pressure on the Bethpage goalie and at the 8:11 mark Brian Kiernan scored off a pass from Ryan Norell
to give Garden City a 2-0. At that point, Bethpage used their timeout to regroup, but that did not
stop the momentum that Garden City had established. Fifteen seconds after the timeout, Ryan Norell
streaked down the left side and made it 3-0 Garden City. Assisting on the third goal were Kevin Rice
and Brian Kiernan. Garden City continued their strong play and had several other scoring opportunities
by Conor Reeves, Kyle Seiferth, Kevin Betts, and Nick Greco. The first period ended with Bethpage only
having two shots on the Garden City goalie Tom Hickcox.
The play continued to favor Garden City in the second period. Thirty seconds into the second period,
Garden City was called for a tripping penalty. The first man down situation of the season was
successful. Forwards Ryan Norell, Brian Kiernan, Conor Reeves, and Aaron Kim did a great job
keeping Bethpage from getting the puck into the Garden City zone. Midway through the second period,
Max Auricchio gave Garden City a four-goal lead as he scored a power play goal with an assist going
to Max Bankin. Shortly after the fourth goal, the combination of Kevin Betts and Nick Greco put
the puck behind a fallen Bethpage goaltender. The puck appeared to have crossed the goal line,
but was ruled a no-goal by the Referee.
Fatigue became a factor towards the end of the second period as Garden City was playing with a short
bench due to preseason injuries to Conor Sweeney and Mike Makris. Bethpage finally got on the scoreboard w
ith three minutes left in the period. The second period ended with Garden City holding onto a
three-goal advantage, however, the momentum shifted over to Bethpage.
Going into the season, the Garden City team knew that their biggest asset was their defensemen. In the
third period, Garden City had to rely on that strength as Bethpage started to put increasing pressure
on goaltender Tom Hickcox. For the first thirty-nine minutes of the game, defensemen Kevin Rice,
Kevin Seiferth, Brian Collins, Tom Rossidis, and David Brown managed to shut down last year's l
eague scoring leader (54 goals in 20 games) who plays for Bethpage. With a little over six minutes
left in the game, an offensive zone breakdown led to a Bethpage goal on a two on none breakaway.
Three minutes later, Garden City was whistled for their second penalty of the game. The first
forty-five seconds of the penalty featured Ryan Norell single handedly taking on three Bethpage
players in the corner and not letting Bethpage out of their defensive zone. The rest of the
penalty time was spent in the Garden City zone with Bethpage firing shots from all angles. Seven
seconds after the penalty expired, Bethpage scored to make it a one-goal game. After a Garden City
timeout, with the Bethpage net empty for an extra skater, the last eighty-two seconds of the game
was a wild scramble that was mostly spent in the Garden City zone. Bodies were flying all over.
Conor Reeves dished out several hard hits on the puck carrier separating the Bethpage player
from the puck. Brian Collins dove to knock the puck away from in front of the net. Kevin
Seiferth took a pounding along the boards to keep the puck in the corner to finish the game. When
the buzzer sounded to end the game, Garden City knew they had earned a very tough victory.
Senior goaltender, Tom Hickcox, had a very strong game in net for Garden City. He especially had to be
sharp in the third period as Bethpage outskated Garden City. Hickcox finished the evening with 25+ saves.
The evening featured strong Varsity debuts by freshmen defensemen Tom Rossidis and David Brown,
both of whom were at a size disadvantage against a very physical Bethpage team. Also making
strong Varsity debuts were forwards Nick Greco, Aaron Kim, and Max Bankin. Returning seniors
Kevin Seiferth, Conor Reeves, Brian Collins, and Kevin Rice deserve praise for their consistent
play during the evening, contributing in all facets of the game.
The Wings have a busy upcoming week with three divisional games. The next game is Friday,
October 22nd at 10:00pm against division rival Carey High School. They will play an
exhibition game against St. Mary's High School on Monday, October 25th at 8pm. The next night
they take on Island Trees High School at 9:30pm. The Wings finish the week against
Levittown High School on Friday, October 29th at 8:15pm. All games are played at Iceworks
rink in Syosset. Please visit www.gcwings.org for a complete game schedule or for additional
information on the Wings.
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