Hockey: Fox Lane explodes in first period for win on the ice

Hank Hearon beats a pair of defenders and heads to the goal.  Fox Lane goalie Dylan Motilal and Harper Newell celebrate after the Foxes win over Pearl River. Fox Lane’s Greg Soderberg celebrates after scoring a goal with teammate Teddy Kao. Greg Kaplowitz photos

By JIM MACLEAN 

A team sport requires a team effort, and it helps when the team gets healthy and gets players back in the lineup.

It was a busy month to start the season for the Fox Lane varsity ice hockey team with a tournament and several games, and the Foxes were often short-handed with players out sick and injured.

The results of having some players return to action was clear as the Foxes hosted Pearl River at the Brewster Ice Arena before a much-needed break for the holidays.

It didn’t start well as Pearl River scored an early goal to take a 1-0 lead just five minutes into the first period, but Fox Lane responded with four-straight goals in a dominant first period performance to take a 4-1 lead on its way to a convincing 7-4 victory.

Senior captain Hank Hearon got the Foxes rolling as he scored the first goal of the game for Fox Lane to even it up at 1-1, and he was just getting started. Greg Soderberg then scored to give the Foxes a 2-1 lead, and Hearon finished off the first period outburst with a pair of goals in the final three minutes, scoring of an assist from Soderberg to make it 3-1 and then scoring off an assist from Harper Newell with a minute left to put the Foxes in control.

Hearon’s first period hat trick set the tone, but the Pirates answered with a goal to start the second period to cut the lead down to 4-2. Soderberg refused to let the Pirates think about a comeback as he answered right back 19 seconds later with his second goal to make it 5-2 and give the momentum back to the Foxes. Newell then scored a goal off an assist from Calvin Metzger to put the Foxes up 6-2 heading into the final period.

Pearl River tried to answer back with a pair of goals to start the third period and make it 6-4, but Soderberg finished off the scoring with his third goal of the game for the hat trick and a 7-4 victory.

It was another example of how potent the Fox Lane offense can be when both Hearon and Soderberg are on the ice as they both recorded a hat trick and led the Foxes to the victory.

At the other end, it was another strong game from freshman goalie Dylan Motilal as he recorded 32 saves in goal for the Foxes. Pearl River actually outshot the Foxes 35-28 overall, but Motilal was the difference, coming up with big saves to thwart the Pirates comeback attempts.

Fox Lane is off for the break until Saturday, Jan. 10, when the Foxes return to the ice at the Brewster Arena to face the combined team of Brewster/Yorktown/Somers/North Salem.