Massapequa Hockey Sweeps Bellmore-Merrick in Nassau County Finals

When the Bellmore-Merrick Bulldogs and Massapequa Chiefs split their regular season series at one game apiece, the players knew they would be meeting again in the finals – and this time, it was Massapequa that prevailed.

The Chiefs won the first two games of a best-of-three series en route to the High School Hockey League of Nassau County Championship.

Massapequa defeated Bellmore-Merrick 7-2 in the first game on Tuesday night at the Town of Oyster Bay Skating Center in Bethpage and sent a clear message to the Bulldogs, who failed to score at least five goals for the first time all season. The Chiefs followed Tuesday’s impressive win with a 5-3 victory on Wednesday to claim the title.

The two teams were as evenly matched as it gets during the regular season. Aside from splitting the season series, both teams finished with an 18-2 record. The Bulldogs scored 172 goals and allowed just 45 goals, while the Chiefs scored 162 and allowed 48.

On Tuesday, Massapequa jumped out to a massive 5-1 first-period lead, including two shorthanded goals and two power-play goals. The Bulldogs never recovered from the early deficit.

Wednesday’s game was a different story.

The Chiefs grabbed a 1-0 lead, but Bellmore-Merrick responded with two goals of its own from senior captain James Bobb. Massapequa’s Mike Tardino tied the game up at 2-2 early in the second and the game remained tied until the third.

The Chiefs scored two early goals in the third to take a 4-2 lead. Bobb cut the lead to 4-3 with three minutes remaining, but an empty-net goal from Tardino sealed the deal for Massapequa.

Joey Bochichio led the attack for the Chiefs in the series with three goals and two assists on Tuesday and the first goal of the game on Wednesday. Tardino added a goal and an assist on Tuesday, and two goals and one assist on Wednesday.

“We were ready for them,” Bochichio said after winning the championship. “They’re a good team, but I guess we were just a little more ready. Yesterday we came out hard in the first period and we got the drop on them.”

On the other side of the ice, Bellmore-Merrick’s first line combined for just two points in Tuesday’s game.

To make matters worse, the team lost first-line forward Frankie Leavey midway through the second period with a hand injury, forcing him out of Wednesday night’s game as well. The team also lost first liner James Karp after he was given a game misconduct during Tuesday’s game. A game misconduct means that Karp was also suspended for the following game on Wednesday.

“They came out a lot stronger today, I got to give them a lot of credit. [They were] missing a few players, a few of their good players,” Bochichio said of Bellmore-Merrick after Wednesday’s win. “They were ready to go today and I appreciate that.”

Bobb did what he could to help his team with one assist on Tuesday and all three of his team’s goals in Wednesday’s 5-3 loss, but his efforts were not enough.

“Missing both Karp and Leavey, we knew what we had to do,” Bobb said. “A lot people had to step up and everyone basically did. We came out, played hard, and basically forgot about what happened last night.”

Score: Tuesday -- Massapequa 7, Bellmore-Merrick 2; Wednesday -- Massapequa 5, Bellmore-Merrick 3

Records: Massapequa 21-2-0; Bellmore-Merrick 19-4-0

Heroes: Massapequa goalie Mike Mottola kept the Bulldogs at bay on the scoreboard in the two-game series. Mottola stopped 21 shots on Tuesday and another 27 on Wednesday.

“He played a super game,” Massapequa head coach Tony DeMayo said. “I can always count on him in the big games.”

While Mottola took care of the defense, it was Bochichio that got the Chiefs firing on offense. Bochichio led the two-game series in goals with four and points with six. His performance on Tuesday night helped put his team in prime position on Wednesday.

“Just two outstanding games by both of them,” DeMayo said. “We couldn’t have done it without them.”

Despite the outcome, Bobb played like the senior captain that he is in both games of the series and had a tremendous season for the Bulldogs.

“What can I say about James Bobb? He’s amazing,” Bellmore-Merrick head coach Chris Patten said. “He’s absolutely amazing.”

Turning Point: The turning point in the series came just 82 seconds into the first game when Tardino used his speed to get behind the Bellmore-Merrick defense and put his team up 1-0 on a shorthanded goal. The Chiefs never looked back from there to claim the crown.

Quotable: “When we were working out over the summer we set that goal, final two, and everyone believed it,” Patten said of his team’s accomplishment of reaching the finals. “I told the boys before the game that they earned the right to be here. So no matter what, they should walk out of this arena tonight with their heads held high. They had a great, wonderful season and we’re looking forward to many more.”

“Yesterday especially was just an awesome effort,” DeMayo said. “Tonight, once we saw that they were going to be in a game, they just kept plugging, plugging, plugging, and we just kept going. We put a couple up in the third period and that was the big difference.”

Bottom Line: The Chiefs came out firing on Tuesday and scored seven goals in the first two periods. The game put the Bulldogs in a huge hole and made a comeback highly unlikely. But the mutual respect each team had for one another was obvious from the get-go.

“I’ve been doing this for 29 years and as long as I can remember, we try and mirror each other’s programs because we know how to develop players,” DeMayo said of the Bellmore-Merrick program.

For the Bulldogs, the loss still stings, but the team is headed to the state tournament – along with Massapequa – during the first weekend of March in Buffalo.

“It was a great season. We achieved our goal and it’s not over yet, we still get to look forward to states,” Bobb said. “… I think we should do pretty good. It should be hopefully us versus them in the finals and we can get another crack at them.”

Box Score:

Tuesday

Wednesday

Bellmore-Merrick

Series Totals

Player