Hats Off: Bobb Scores Three as Bellmore-Merrick Hockey Rolls 8-4

The Bellmore-Merrick Bulldogs had a tough test on Monday night in the form of the Wantagh-Seaford Baymen, but they passed with flying colors as the first-place Bulldogs got several standout efforts en route to an 8-4 victory at Newbridge Arena.

Senior forward Frankie Leavey scored the game’s first goal just 14 seconds after the opening whistle when he skated into Wantagh-Seaford territory and sniped a wrist shot into the top corner as he fell to the ice.

However, the Baymen had an answer for each of the Bulldogs’ first three goals. The game was all tied at 3-3 with less than three minutes remaining in the second period, that was until junior Allen West skated into the Wantagh-Seaford zone and ripped a bullet of a slap shot passed a defenseman and into the top left corner of the net to give his team a 4-3 lead.

“I didn’t have anywhere to go so I just let it rip,” West said.

Senior captain James Bobb put his team up for good when he scored the second of his three goals just 19 seconds after West’s blast. Bobb patiently held onto the puck and put it between his own legs and past Baymen goalie Brett Epstein.

“He’s a leader on the ice and he’s a leader off the ice,” Bellmore-Merrick head coach Chris Patten said of his captain. “He’s our go-to guy. He’s having a phenomenal season. He put in so much training during the offseason and you can see that and how it’s impacted his game. He’s strong out there on the puck and off the puck.”

Bobb added his third goal of the game six minutes into the third period on a gorgeous no-look pass from linemate James Karp, who finished with three points on the night.

“I think the biggest part was coming out on that first shift and getting a goal on that first shot of the game,” Bobb said. “Even though they came back after every goal we scored, we just never stopped.”

Score: Bellmore-Merrick 8, Wantagh-Seaford 4

Records: Bellmore-Merrick 18-1-0; Wantagh-Seaford 9-6-3

Heroes: While Bobb put in three goals, and also added one assist, it was West and Dan Hulse who stepped up for the Bulldogs.

With defenseman Jake Barber a late scratch due to illness, West and Hulse split time on defense to fill for their teammate and the duo took over with relative ease. West finished with the one goal and Hulse added two assists.

“We try to build along that team mentality and that team philosophy,” Bellmore-Merrick head coach Chris Patten said. “A couple of guys said ‘We’ll step up and we’ll fill in the shoes and do what we have to do for the team.’ … They both have such great speed. It kind of almost looked like we had a Nick Abbene out there again because we had the ‘D’ flying up with the puck.”

“It was different, because I usually always play forward,” West added. “[Patten] said he trusted me playing ‘D,’ so he decided to try me out there.”

West set up several plays on offense, including his own goal, while Hulse had no trouble breaking up plays on defense and starting the puck back the other way.

“They did fine,” Bobb said of his teammates. “Allen had a goal and Dan is just fast. He was able to skate it up and be like fourth forward out there.”

Turning Point:  There were several key points to Monday’s win, like defenseman Michael O’Byrne breaking up a 3-on-1 early in the first or goalie Jacob Smart making an impossible save across the crease midway through the second, but it was Matthew Hackett’s goal in the third period that made the difference.

The Baymen had already evened up the game three times and were threatening to come back again with seven minutes to go, but Hackett stripped the puck away from a lone Wantagh-Seaford defenseman, effortlessly deked around Epstein and put the puck home on the backhand to give his team a 7-4 lead.

Quotable: “We went into this game thinking that it would be [like] the first round of the playoffs and our goal from the beginning of the season was final two [teams] – that’s what we wanted and that’s what we were working for,” Patten said. “This is a team that could stand in our way.”

Bottom Line: Bellmore-Merrick knew Monday night wouldn’t be easy, and after a slow start, the Bulldogs showed why they were the top “dogs” in the High School Hockey League of Nassau County

“We played like crud in the beginning of the game,” West said. “We got fired up during the middle of the game and we just kept scoring – that’s what we have to do.”

There is a strong chance the Bulldogs might see the Baymen again in the first round of the playoffs, which start Feb. 13. Patten expects just as good of a test as his team got on Monday.

“We respect the heck out of Wantagh-Seaford,” Patten said. “They’re well-coached and the players are phenomenal. Any team that wins four championships in the last five or six years is a team that can win on any given night and we definitely don’t take them lightly. They’re a team that we want to go out and compete strong against, play our game and hopefully come out with a victory.”

Who’s Next? Feb. 7, Bellmore-Merrick vs. Garden City, 9:25 p.m. (Newbridge Arena -- Senior Night)

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