Mike Dougherty
mdougher@lohud.com
LARCHMONT - The goals were coming so easily in the opening weeks of the season, Pelham clearly lost a desire to stand out defensively. And when this identity crisis resulted in a blowout loss to Suffern three weeks ago, the Pelicans quickly realized they had to again become a general nuisance.
It’s no longer an issue.
Pelham did not allow Mamaroneck to entertain thoughts of an upset for long, clamping down from the start and waiting for the offense to catch up in a 6-0 victory Saturday at Hommocks Park Ice Rink. The miserly Pelicans (10-5, 5-0) clinched at least a share of the Conference II title with the win.
“We started to stress defense more,” senior defenseman Graham Lambdin said. “Once we get the defense going, the goals start coming.”
That’s exactly how this one played out.
Nathan Mullaney had a 1-on-1 breakaway chance stopped by Pelham goalie Matt DeYoung, who got his third shutout of the season. A slap shot from Trey Herlitz-Ferfuson was stopped cold, too. Chris LeBlanc had a sweet chance outside the crease, but lifted the shot up and over everything.
Pelham forces an opponent to be well beyond precise.
“I think we’re a lot closer to where we want to be,” sophomore defenseman Will Cullen said. “We’re a lot better defensively, and Graham coming back helps us out a lot.”
Pelicans coach Ed Witz recently juggled the lineup, moving Lambdin to the blue line in order to provide more depth. He was the leading scorer at one point early in the season. Will Mac Innis slid in up front.
And since the 8-2 loss at Suffern, a refocused Pelham team has only given up five goals in seven games.
“We held Mamaroneck to 11 shots on goal,” Witz said. “We are getting to where we want to be. I think our difficult schedule is helping now. … Our kids are more comfortable with the pace of these games and they are playing well.”
The Pelicans were content to set up on the perimeter early on and only had a handful of quality shots in the first period.
Lambdin powered in a blast from the right circle four minutes into the second that started low and caught the blade of a stick before rising top left for a 1-0 lead.
“We need the first goal,” he said. “I’m not even sure it was my goal, but they gave it to me anyway. Mamaroneck was playing very hard, but once we got the first goal everyone kind of piled right on.”
Indeed.
Pelham owned the last five minutes of the period, controlling the puck like it had a man advantage. Cullen went around two defenders to increase the lead. Andrew Dzenis threw in another off the faceoff. Colin Reilly tucked one inside the far post. Andrew Schauer got one short-handed, then Mac Innis complete the outburst.
It was a blowout in a blink.
“We kept working hard and we kept it to a one-goal game except for those five minutes,” Mamaroneck coach Mike Chiapparelli said with a laugh. “Their defense is real good, and they did a good job keeping the puck in our zone. We couldn’t get it out.”
Both teams have big rivalry games coming up. The Pelicans visit Rye on Wednesday, while the Tigers (9-8, 2-3) play ETB on Friday and Suffern on Saturday.
37 Comments
Cullen is a sophomore defenseman, not senior
pelham actually had 12 shots in first period, not 1. looking forward to a great game against rye wednesday night. the games between these two teams are classics. somebody please tell marcel woods not to get stressed out with curiousity as number 10 will be playing wednesday.
Really looking forward to Suffern and Bosco and hoping Suffern can play well against them. Should be a good game I hope. Whats odd on the blog so far today is the absence of the regulars after Mamaronecks loss to Pelham last night. We have not heard from the fotg or the rocket person or any of those who have been jabbing at Pelham. Very quiet in here. The last thing Mamaroneck needs after last night is another game with Suffern on Saturday. its getting very close to playoff time and you cannot have the teams confidence go down the drain so close to the playoff games. Mamaroneck also has Eastchester coming up and that will be no day at the beach for the Tigers.
I was going to point that out too, according to the scoreboard Pelham had 12 shots on goal in the first period. I think mamaroneck had maybe one shot on goal in the second period.
This game was not even as close as the 6-0 score makes it seem like. Mamaroneck had 3 decent scoring chances the entire game, and they could not break out of their own zone. Mamaronecks best offensive players could not compete with Pelhams D. Mamaroneck looked great vs rye, and looked like they had no clue how to break out of their zone yesterday.
Bottom line, mamaronecks best could not play with Pelhams best. Pelham moves the puck faster, forechecking much harder, and just looked much tougher than mamk. Pelham completely took their foot off the gas pedal after the second period. Pelham is a much stronger team than rye, no doubt. Mamaroneck played the same way last night as they did verse rye, as hard as they could for a period and a half. After the second period, mamk played with no heart and gave up which is disappointing. On the bright side, mamk backup junior goalie looked good in the third period and will be a strong starter for mamaroneck next year.
On another note, did this pelham goalie steal borofskys starting job?
Hey suffern bosco, you spoke too soon ya tool. I was rooting for suffern to beat bosco, but after your obnoxious post, I am a big bosco supporter, and hope suffern loses in typical suffern fashion… Letting up late goals near the end of the game in heartbreaking fashion. How many times is that going to happen?
Thanks flash! Now I can sleep! Have to admit #10 has always had a calmness to his game even when circumstances gave him big time shifts in state final vs. New Hartford he looked comfortable. I think his time with AC is paying dividends especially with the physical part of the game. Just being the typical selfish fan knowing they have a legit shot at long run this year and consitency will be key. I am officially “off the ledge”!
mamaroneck looked like they could have used the help from their “flashy” D men last night
The hard thing for Mamo dealing with Pelham last night was that they have two lines of superb defense and their entire team back checks hard like no I else I’ve seen. The whole team is committed to team defense. It makes a difference and we could t solve it. I see them doing very well this season.
And Mike, what do you mean “closer to fine”? Looked better than fine to me.
Mamo-Pelham
Headlines for Dummies … It means Pelham is getting closer to meeting its own expectations in terms of level of play.
Which is a foreshadow of Mike’s Video of the week, Indigo Girls – Closer to Fine
Wow. Thanks for the insult. I’ll be sure to contribute more often
don’t know that you can jump to any conclusions on pelham goalies. Look at games against Willy East and Rome Free, both highly ranked teams and both 2-0 losses. And also look at blowout loss against Suffern. I would think next 4 games starting with Rye this week and then Suffern rematch mean more so will be interesting to see what they do in those games.
Lets not be too hard on Mamaroneck. I cannot say I thought they quit. Pelham was absolutely relentless on the puck last night. The second period was a complete whitewash. Pelham has some very tough games ahead and I feel they are only going to get better. What a turn around from last month when many people here felt they were not that good and over rated. looks like 3 complete lines and an occasional 4th competitive group with 4 very solid defense man. The goaltending was huge for Pelham in the first period, he looked very confident and in total control. Wednesday should be a fun atmosphere.
How about that ref falling twice last night during the game?
Mamk lost simply because Pelham is better. That was obvious. Flashy d men maybe make that game 5-0. At best. I don’t see them coming back, and mamk doesn’t make excuses about injuries blah blah blah. They’re able to beat combo town and rye without them, but suffern and Pelham just have better teams by alot this year for mamk to compete with. It’ll probably be a few years before mamk is again one of the dominant teams. But they are still better than most and getting some nice victories after some somewhat surprising losses to new ro and Scarsdale.
Pelham seems to have really tightened the defense. Also good to have 2 capable goalies. Wednesday nite should be a good battle. Slight edge to the Pelicans, but in this rivalry, the favorites don’t always win. Should be a good one for the fans. Expect an electric atmosphere at Playland. Two top 10 in state teams battlling it out.
Think it’s clear that Pelham comes into the game a clear and reasonably strong favorite. They’re deeper and more experienced and have once again played a much harder schedule that has honed a fine “edge” to their play.
As a Rye fan I hope the kids can step it way up to make this a good game and even better, end in a Rye win!!
Good luck to both teams.
Will be a barn burner. In a game like this no edge to either team dead even game. Rye at home is an edge but Pelham has always been a great road team and plays well in that building. Both teams have a gunner Pelham has been playing near flawlessly defensively. Rye always plays up in big games. Goes either way. Each team with a different hope on the outcome. I think Rye wants to win to prove they are still a team thats considered a favorite, a win can reassure and give them some confidence, Pelham I think will take a W or an L and hope to be a better team either way because of it. That seems to be their plan looking at all the big games and hard opponents they play with little regard for where they will be seeded. Rye is in danger of not getting that coveted (by Rye at least) #1 seed. That would be ridiculous if Brewster gets it based on 9 wins against down teams. Brewster has 6 wins ited up in Fox Lane, Hen Hud and Jfk and 3 more wins tied up in Sleepy, SNS and LP. Not to chop on those teams that have lost to Brewster but if you do the math those 6 teams that make up Brewsters 9 wins have a combined record of 19-68. They do not deserve to be seeded ahead of Rye in my opinion.
There is no stop at playland, Pelham express 4+ goal favorite easy . .
Pelham – 4 or 5 to 1
The key is who scores first. Pelham is great at playing with lead. Rye has the depth to go up and down the ice with the Pelicans, but scoring more than a few against Pelham when they are in lock down mode is tough. Want to take advantage of them when they are behind and pushing for a goal.
This is going to be a great game to watch, I’m gunna bring the whole family
I’m sure mountie fans are crushed to know RF is not rooting for them…wgara.
As for giving up a late lead in big games, you have to get to those big games first so…..
IS it possible to root for suffern and their players, yet root against Suffern bloggers who annoy me? I’m torn!!!! It would be cool if Suffern beat Bosco… just for section one bragging rights. But if suffern loses it could help with Bosco recruiting. They’ll say, “hey, your best section one team can’t beat us, so why play public school hockey when you can try out for the best team around?”
Pelham will prevail.
Rocket – Suffern kids don’t opt to play for Bosco period. No matter how good Bosco is or how relatively weak Suffern is, these kids would never give up the chance to wear the Mountie sweater. It’s ingrained in them from the time they’re 4 or 5 years old skating between periods at the varsity games that some day…it’ll be me and my friends playing for Suffern. It’s about tradition and Mountie pride.
Old School Mountie…one of the best posts I have ever read. Some of the programs like Suffern, Pelham, Rye, Mamaroneck provide something that no travel program will ever be able to match. Suffern does a fantastic job with their youth program and as you said from age 4 or 5 the kids know where they want to play. Junior hockey and travel hockey can be very beneficial to talented players that dont have a strong high school program but there are some high school teams that blow these travel programs out of the water.
Listen, I went to my neighbors modified game when they played suffern. Can you tell me this. Why do you always brag about how ALL these kids want to wear the Mountie Sweater and there were like 12 kids on the Suffern Modified team. I mean modified is 7th 8th and 9th graders. Apparently this mystique that you have about Suffern is not shared by the kids who are in middle school. On the flip side, Mamaroneck had over 30 kids on their bench… it was comical, the whole team was on top of each other on the bench. Mamaroneck also has over 20 kids on their JV and varsity. SO I am thinking more kids in Mamaroneck would rather wear the Mamaroneck Jersey than the suffern kids. Or is it that Suffern cuts kids early on the modified unless they come in to the program with skills, instead of developing them. Or maybe they are just waiting for kids from Bosco, Bergen Catholic and the like to “transfer” to suffern and move to suffern when they get older… again with a skill set that is already there. What a joke. Face it, Suffern (in their own backdoor ways) may win more than Mamaroneck, but the Mamaroneck program is a far superior program than Suffern in most ways. Suffern is elitist and would throw their own taxpaying players under the bus if a better kid wanted to “move” to suffern.
RF
Pretty sure Suffern has 3 Freshman on Varsity & just because 12 kids show up does not mean they only have 12 kids on the team. Travel practice is still going on … just saying
Apparently kids from new jersey and Yonkers also look forward to the day they can wear a suffern sweater! LOL
Rocket – Come on now, you’re better than that. Still with the “transfer” stuff? You should know that some years have more hockey players than others. It’s an ebb and flow thing with the numbers not to mention the fact that injuries and other commitments also may have kept the numbers down in the game you saw.
30 kids on modified…20 kids on JV and Mamaroneck’s big club is still getting their doors blown off on a weekly basis. Not much of a farm system eh?
Old School – interesting you state its an ebb and flow thing for Suffern, but I guess that same logic can’t be applied to Mamos Varsity this year – why? Mamo has very few Seniors playing a significant role on this year team. Foe a variety of reasons, including private school transfers the Senior class is thin this year – so there’s you ebb, flow or whatever else you want to call it. Oh yeah, and if you want to call 9-8 record, with one of the toughest schedules in Section One, “gettig you doors blown off”, I’d hate so see what you would say if they weren’t right around the .500 mark.
Rjmkrm – Simply responding to RF’s assertion that Mamaroneck’s program, from top to bottom, is so much deeper and inspires far more loyalty than Suffern’s. I then took issue with his lame transfer line of BS. Let’s face it, both programs have been and will continue to be successful because of the effort put into the young players in their respective communities.
Old School – agree with your comments on both schools As an fyi – 8th grade for Mamk is a positive ebb and flow year for Mamk, For whatever reason, there is a ton of hockey players in that grade. They actually needed three travel teams to accommodate the number. This is totally opposite from the Senior class this year.
Agreed old school. It’s just fun to tease on the allegations. However, is it true suffern only has 13 kids on modified? Do they cut? Mamaroneck varsity has a freshman starting on D. And at least 5 8th graders on jv. Their mod has over 30 kids, mostly 7th graders. It’s just one of those years where the hockey grade is huge. I don’t think this years 6th grade is big.
Suffern modified #s seem about right. And no real impact players, as opposed to last year, when they were very, very good.