BREWSTER – With six important games to go in the regular season, John Jay is hurtling along with unmistakable purpose.
There’s a measure of humility mixed in, too.
And while the undefeated Indians dispatched Horace Greeley by a surprising 7-2 margin late Saturday at Brewster Ice Arena, not a single player was posing or preening.
Nobody gets a trophy for a noteworthy win in January.
“I don’t know if this sends a message,” said John Jay coach Alex Smith, whose team improved to 13-0-1. “Greeley played Friday night and we didn’t, so it’s just a hard-fought victory during the regular season. I don’t know if there’s any message sent one way or the other.”
Maybe not, but the Quakers were undefeated, too, when the game started.
“We needed this,” Greeley defenseman Blake Davis said. “There were times in practice where we weren’t going our hardest, so I think this was a good wake-up call and Monday in practice we’re going to go harder than we have all year.”
The Quakers, who have a 12-1-2 record, came out looking to steal another headline and were all over the puck early. None of the early chances wound up getting by Matt Lanza.
Shawn Smith came into the zone and straight down the slot three minutes into the game, and was able to give the Indians a 1-0 lead when he fired to a stick-side opening and beat Neil Hershman. John Jay was in the right frame of mind.
“It was definitely something we emphasized coming into the game, we wanted to get a good start and put the pressure on and I think we did that,” Indians forward Frazier Bostick said. “We got the first goal and that was big for us.”
Smith deflected a shot that defenseman Anthony Scapperotti threw in front a short time later to up the lead. John Tobin worked to control the puck deep in the zone with seven minutes to go in the first period and scored off a backhand move to make it 3-0.
“I was looking around, looking at the kids, and I think we were all a little shell shocked,” Greeley coach Zach Dargaty said. “When you start these games, you’re excited, but you have to be ready. I don’t think we were ready.
“We haven’t played a lot of teams like John Jay. They’re bigger and older. We’ve been telling the kids, the teams we’re going to struggle against are the teams that are older and more physical. We played a team last night (Masuk, Conn.) that I purposely put on the schedule because I knew they were a banging team, but they don’t finish like John Jay can. John Jay has three or four kids who can really finish and that was the difference. They were stronger on the puck and it took us a little while to adjust to that. Our mistakes turned into goals. Their mistakes didn’t hurt them.”
Thomas Blaney set Bostwick up with two minutes to play in the first period with a pretty centering pass. It was 4-0 just like that.
“I’m thinking it must’ve killed them,” Scapperotti said. “I’m not taking anything away from them because they are a great team and they did come out hard. It’s really not fun when you’re down like that.”
The Quakers finally ended the run when Calder Fontaine scored a power-play goal in the final seconds of the first.
It was a 4-2 game after Dean Klein got loose and showed off stick skills early in the second, but Scapperotti and Bostwick each scored a goal in the last five minutes of the period.
Smith got the last goal when he intercepted a bad clear by Hershman.
“We were definitely happy with the result,” Bostwick said. “I thought we played a good, team game, so it doesn’t really matter what the score was.”
Lanza came up with 20 saves in a game played without two defensive regulars. Mark Leprine was playing juniors and Jack Wertz is serving a disqualification suspension. Scapperotti was busy, although he got plenty of defensive help from the likes of Jeremy Morowitz, Jesse Gasperino and Tobin.
Instead of locking Greeley down, they scrambled effectively.
“Depth is nice to have because we know we’ll be able to get off the ice and catch our breath while somebody else is out there, working hard and doing what we were just doing,” Scapperotti said.
The Quakers’ biggest task going forward is convincing the underclassmen they still have a chance to win a Section 1 title.
“It’s going to be important for the seniors and the upperclassmen to show them it’s one game and we have to keep going hard. Definitely. I think that’s big for us. Now we know what to expect. We have to play better next time we face a top program because we know what it’s going to take to win.”
28 Comments
Greely was a bit exposed last night, but they are still a tough and dangerous team. JJ is a solid contender, but still needs to upgrade their schedule and play upstate…( what are they waiting for?)
What is happening with section 1 Hockey is this…It’s not just about Suffern, Rye and Pelham any more! The entire section is getting better and better, with more youth programs, better oppertunities and atheletes attracted to the great game of Ice Hockey!
Massena, Probably the best program in the State has a tough road getting out of Section 10 because they are all good up there, I see the same thing happening here. So it’s not that Suffern, or Pelham or Rye is “overrated” when they happen to lose to a local team…it’s that the local teams are getting better..simple as that!
John Jay is going upstate. I believe in the first weekend of February, Thousand Islands area I think.
I would like to know the thinking behind the statement “Massena is (probably) the best program in the state? Since 1996, only 3 section 10 teams have made it to the championship game in Utica. Canton twice, massena once. Looks like section 1 is definitely getting stronger. Sections 2,3,5 and
lastly 6, which joined the state tournament in 1999 are strong sections too. Massena and section 10 were quite dominant from 1980-1995, but then something happened.
What does Smarthockey have to say about the Greeley loss? Lost to a better team?
Obsessive,
Agree on Section 1 getting better and and assume teams like Scarsdale, Greeley and Jay (and all others) will keep it going starting in youth hockey.
Yeah all these teams need to go upstate (or play them down here) mix it up, get noticed, etc.
Lets see, I was not at the game but heard JJ had a solid game plan designed to hit and disrupt Greeley. Looked like it worked. It does look like almost everything I either predicted or posted in preseason is true.
It’s very lonely being right all the time.
Greeley did not have it last night, hopefully that wasn’t their best result and will be ready come playoff time
That was not a win, that was a pounding.
NW Name a better program? Or for thsat matter a program that is consistantly the one to use as a measuing stick for State teams. Suffern YES! OK… but it’s still Massena to me when you play and beat them you know you have arrived!
Mike, good game story.
It looks like you are starting to get the hang of this whole journalism thing.
Nobody at any of those upstate papers can crank out a cheesy 700 word high school hockey story as well as you can.
D 2 has the big 5 contenders.
If the season ended today it would be Scars v Pelham in a quarter…winner gets JJ in the semi.
Other semi would be Rye v Greeley
How bout you sac up and make some predictions?
And why don’t you just admit it…when you are in New Orleans covering the Super Bowl festivities…hanging out with athletes and famous people and other talented writers…enjoying your dark micro-beer and your creole shrimp and gumbo…praying that some NFL MENSA member gets arrested or does something incredibly stupid so that you actually have something to cover…you’re going to be checking the blog every five minutes and wishing you were at that god-awful suburban igloo off of 684
mission accomplished. You got me to respond. You were never right about anything this year. You predicted the big four Suffern Pelham Rye and Mamaroneck would fall and would not be that good. Wrong on all counts. Predicted JJ would be god? Big deal everyone knew they would be good, they were close last year. So you got nothing, but hot air and an over rated team that has a bloated record from palying weaklings
@obsessive. Better programs since 1999 when the number of sections competing for a state championship increased. Listed by number of state championship game appearances.
Williamsville North-7
West Genessee- 4
Saratoga-4
Ithaca-3
Massena and 5 other schools-1
Harvard, Princeton and Yale used to win national championships in college football all the time, but to say that they are probably the best programs in the country because of what they did many years ago is a stretch. Massena has great tradition, and a strong past, but to say they are probably the best program in the state is a stretch in my opinion as well.
Ned
Thanks, and I’ll be eating at least one shrimp po boy in your honor.
how many final 4 and semi’s does massena have compared to the rest of the State? Stand by my call that they are still the yardstick although your point is taken!
many programs are catching up to them and they are no longer the dominent force they once were…still if you beat them, even in off years you have arrived.
Some great DII matchups in the next week and a half. Rye gets Jay and Pel. Pel gets Scars. Looks like teams getting players back. Nice prelude to a super playoffs fr DII.
Mike,
What happened to Greely’s goaltending. The kid let up two to Benicassa and Rye then 7 to JJ. I thought for sure that you be a close game, was JJ that dominant. Was G even playing their starter. I’m starting to think their are only the big 3 in D2—Pelham, Rye, JJ.
Comparative scores are interesting, but not always dispositive. Greeley got Rye in a rut and Jay on a role. I doubt Jay beats Rye by 5 on Saturday. Still think Greeley’s skating depth keeps them in the mix. They are susceptible to physical play, though. Scars is the wild card. If the soph fwd can come back full strength from a mid season injury (no guarantee), that frees up Nicholas to do his thing. Raiders also need to settle the goalie situation.
Still think its a 5 horse race. Rye Pelham and Jay at the top, Scarsdale then Greeley. Ryes been pretty solid and will get some more tests. Pelham is winning with their star scorers and players on the shelf. Pelham will continue to be tested but I think of how strong they will be when they get everyone back. They losses they have are all against strong teams and they are playing so many younger kids, with thier schedule those younger guys are getting big game experience. Scarsdale will be a major factor but really need to get the other star player back to make a run. I reserve opinion on Jay until they play Rye.
West
The kid had an off night, it happens. And there were a couple of goals, both Blaney to Bostwick rushes, that no goalie in Section 1 was going to stop.
mikes right…no goalie in the section can stop frazier bostwick coming in to the zone with speed
I wonder if undfeated Jay makes the sportswriter poll this week? They are worthy.
@@smarthockey-I never predicted the fall of anyone. I questioned the strength of two of the teams you mentioned in relation to their strength last year,challenged the rational for predicting their dominance this year and used a relatively obvious objective rational to predict the rise of certain teams.
Since then, almost everything I proposed has become conventional wisdom. Suffern and Pelham are no where near as good as last year and several of Mike’s articles discuss the partity that now exists. I don’t know where you get including Rye and Mamo, I think I even said that my rationale both teams would be better. I did say that Scarsdale lost players and would not be as good and that both Greeley and especially JJ would be much better. NO ONE SAID JJ WOULD BE THIS GOOD!!!
I did,check out Mike’s story themes for the past few days. I did miss WP, no ones perfect but I guess my little comment about being lonely really boiled your blood
Smart Hockey—nice rebuttal—your beaker is boiling . Do you drive a DeLorean? kidding Ned will get it.
Smart Hockey
Even when you win you lose.
With a name like “Frazier Bostwick” you better be good at sports…
His grandfather is either Thurston Howell or the butler on Downton Abbey
I can assure you the Lovie and I have never conceived a child named Frazier. I do recall the Skipper having an affair with a young woman but …........
Wanna talk about a name? The Whitesboro team the was here this past weekend to face North Rockland & White Plains had a kid on the roster named Rocco DeRollo. No joke.