Bellmore-Merrick Hockey Cruises to 2-0

The Bellmore-Merrick Bulldogs put up double-digit goals for the second consecutive game in a 10-1 rout over the Cold Spring Harbor Seahawks on Sunday night at Iceworks.

Junior Nicholas Abbene scored on a breakaway just 5:20 into the game to spark a four-goal first period for the Bulldogs, who had five different players score.

Senior captain James Bobb led the way with four goals. He now has six on the season.

Goaltender Jacob Smart notched eight saves in two periods of work for his second win of the season.

"We did well," said junior James Karp, who finished the game with four assists. "Everyone performed, from the first line to the fourth line. If we keep doing that we're going to play well. Every line is scoring."

The Seahawks, who were dealing with several injuries, only dressed 11 players for the game.

Cold Spring Harbor goalie William Beuerlein finished with 17 saves, including seven on 0dd-man rushes.

Hero: Every player tends to stand out in a 10-1 win, and while Bobb finished with four goals, it was his line mate, Karp, who set up every one of them. Karp's precision passing and heads-up playmaking made it look like he had a sixth sense – not seeing dead people – but rather knowing where Bobb was on the ice at any given moment.

"We play travel together, so it's easy," Karp said of playing with Bobb. "We're always looking for each other and I know where he's going to be."

"You look at that first line of James Bobb, James Karp and Frankie Leavey, they're dangerous," head coach Chris Patten added. "I think they could be one of the best combinations in the league."

Turning Point: A two-goal deficit isn't insurmountable, but the Bulldogs "third" and "fourth" lines added two goals late in the first period to give the team a 4-0 lead that noticeably frustrated the Seahawks and took them out of the game.

"The third line has just been like that blue collar, bring your lunchbox to work, working class line that banged in three goals tonight from Mike Ferrette," Patten said.

Patten was equally impressed with his fourth line, which contributed two goals in the game.

"And then that fourth line, you look at someone like Patrick Donlon, he's a senior, he made the team this year, it's his first year on varsity and he puts the puck in," he said.

Quotable: "We've got four lines, [we're] just running them like waves," Patten said. "It was an excellent effort from everybody."

Bottom Line: The best part about having four lines that can score is that if one or two of the lines have an off night, there are still two other lines to pick things up. When all four lines show up to play, the result is 22 goals in two games.

"We still had kids missing from our second line, but [we got] a strong effort from Steven Azzara," Patten said.

On top of the tremendous display of offense in the team's first two games, Patten said he is just as happy with his defense, which allowed just 13 shots on goal against the Seahawks.

"We have solid goaltending, but no one has really seen it yet because our defense and everyone is playing so well in front of it, but that's kind of what you want," he said. "We actually got both goalies in there tonight too, Patrick Bedell and Jacob Smart, and we couldn't be happier."

Key Stat: The Bulldogs have outscored their opponents 9-0 in the first period this season.

Who's Next? Manhasset @ Bellmore Merrick, Tonight @ 9:25 p.m. (Newbridge Arena)

Box Score

Goals (from scorekeeper)

Saves