Team effort lifts Horace Greeley/John Jay over Fox Lane on the ice

Julian Pedreyra of HG/JJ and Hank Hearon of Fox Lane chase after the puck. Henry Millhon of HG/JJ scores in close against Fox Lane’s Gavin Willman. Fox Lane’s Greg Soderberg and HG/JJ Riley McMahon collide at center ice. Jim MacLean Photos

By JIM MACLEAN 

One look at the benches for the start of the Horace Greeley/John Jay vs. Fox Lane ice hockey game Saturday, Jan. 31, at the Brewster Ice Arena, and you could tell it could be a long night for the Foxes.

Horace Greeley/John Jay (HG/JJ) came in on a roll, having a great year with only two losses, and the team was fired up for senior night with a full lineup on the bench. Fox Lane has struggled to get its full lineup on the ice, and the Foxes had just five extra skaters on the empty bench.

That depth made the difference as HG/JJ put on a team effort with eight different players scoring a goal to pull away for an impressive 11-4 victory to improve to 11-2 on the season.

“A good team win, we stayed out of the box, got to play all our lines, everyone played well on defense, our goalie played well, we have a lot of people scoring the last few games, a good balanced attack,” said HG/JJ coach Alex Lichorat. “They were short on numbers, they’re a better team than the score indicated. They played Pawling to a one-goal game, so they were definitely missing players today. Our seniors stepped it up on senior night.”

It didn’t help that Fox Lane had played the night before and suffered a one-goal loss against Pawling, a team that defeated HG/JJ earlier in the season and is one of the top teams in the sectional standings. The back-to-back games against two strong teams with an empty bench took its toll on the Foxes.

“We’ve played much better than our record shows,” explained Fox Lane coach Tom McGinn. “We had our entire roster last night and it was a very different game. We took a lead into the third period against Pawling and ended up losing by one. Then we go to this game and we had 10 skaters, it’s exhausting. I give a lot of respect to our kids. They were skating, keeping their heads up, they played with pride and heart, they play classy hockey. End of the day we can be proud of ourselves when we leave the rink.”

Fox Lane actually came out strong and took the lead as Greg Soderberg scored off an assist from Hank Hearon, but then Riley McMahon and Bredan Asta took over the rest of the first period for HGJJ.

McMahon scored to even it up at 1-1 off assists from Asta and Sebastian Marinucci, and a minute later McMahon scored again off another assist from Asta to give HG/JJ the lead.

Asta then scored off assists from McMahon and Gio Pelosi to make it 3-1, and Austin Llewellyn scored off an assist from Asta to make it 4-1 at the end of the first period.

In the second period, HG/JJ got three more goals from three different goal scorers as Julian Pedreyra, Freddie Gross and Andy Ji each scored a goal to make it 7-1 heading into the third period.

Henry Millhon opened the third period with an unassisted goal to make it eight-straight unanswered goals for HG/JJ, but Hearon was able to score less than a minute later for Fox Lane to make it 8-2.

Millhon was just getting started as he scored the next two goals to complete a hat trick in the third period alone, with Asta recording his fourth assist of the game on Millhon’s third goal. Ryan Marcus then scored to make it an 11-2 lead for HG/JJ.

Fox Lane kept skating and the Foxes finished strong as Frank Mieras and Calvin Metzger each scored a goal to make the final score 11-4.

Less than 24 hours before the loss to HG/JJ, Fox Lane was on the ice at Brewster against Pawling and almost pulled off the upset before the Tigers prevailed with a 4-3 victory.

Alek Shkeli had a big night for Fox Lane as he led the way with two goals. Shkeli scored the first two goals of the game to give the Foxes an early lead, and Hearon added the third goal. McGinn credited goalie Dylan Motilal for a big game in net to keep the Foxes in it until the end.

“We played possibly our best game of the season, came out full swing, the kids were fired up and ready to play,” McGinn said of the Pawling game. “We played a good, smart physical game of hockey, a competitive game the whole way through. Hank has been our leading scorer the last two years and he’s just very consistent for us, and Dylan stands on his head and gives us an opportunity to be in every game.”

For HG/JJ, it was the fifth-straight win and the team has been on fire scoring 52 goals in those five victories, but Lichorat knows this is a big test ahead facing Rivertowns on Feb. 6, Brewster/Yorktown/Somers/North Salem (Bisons) on Feb. 7, and then Pawling on the road Monday, Feb. 9.

“We’re playing well, but next week is a really big week,” said Lichorat. “Three really good teams in four days, and the Bisons and Pawling are the two teams that beat us.”