The Usual Suspects: Stars Shine as Bellmore-Merrick Hockey Advances to Finals

The Bellmore-Merrick Bulldogs went into Sunday night’s first-round game against the Syosset Braves at the Town of Oyster Bay Skating Center in Bethpage with a sense of uncertainty, especially after their most recent loss against Garden City to close out the regular season.

But the Bulldogs returned to normalcy and jumped out to a 4-0 first-period lead en route to a 9-1 win. The victory puts the Bulldogs up against the first-place Massapequa Chiefs in the finals, which start Tuesday.

The first two lines combined for seven of the Bulldogs goals. Junior Dan Hulse had two first-period goals, the first of which came just more than one minute into the game after he used his speed to get behind the defense and deke past a helpless Syosset goalie.

Line mates James Karp and Allen West each had two goals and two assists, while James Bobb added one goal and three assists. The first line clicked all night long and Karp capped off a gorgeous passing play between the trio with a quick deke and backhand goal 41 seconds into the second period to put the Bulldogs up 5-0.

“It felt good again. Garden City was a tough loss, especially at the end of the season like that,” Hulse said. “To come back and win like this, hopefully it will give us some motivation against Massapequa.”

Senior defenseman Michael O’Byrne broke up several plays and had a huge game on the blue line with three hits and one goal on a late slap shot that put Bellmore-Merrick up 8-1.

Bulldogs goalie Jacob Smart made 19 saves in the win.

“During past games, we went out there thinking we’re going to win 12-0, thinking we’re going to wreck them,” alternate captain Evan Pasquariello said after the win. “Finally we came out not sure of our situation and we went out there and proved that we were good enough to make it to the final two.”

Score: Bellmore-Merrick 9, Syosset 1

Records: Bellmore-Merrick 19-2-0; Syosset 12-8-1

Hero: The Bulldogs’ strength is that any player can step up on a given night, and Sunday night it was Hulse. The junior’s speed was too much for Syosset defense to handle and his quick hands gave the Braves problems for most of the game.

“Dan’s been playing amazing all year,” Bellmore-Merrick head coach Chris Patten said. “He was a gift coming out to the Bulldogs this year and we absolutely adore him. He brought his skating game tonight. He looked awesome out there tonight.”

Turning Point: A 4-0 first-period lead is a tough margin to overcome, but it was possible. However, Karp impressive backhand deke on a tic-tac-toe passing play took the Braves right out of the game to open up the second period.

“If they wanted to achieve the goal that we set during the summertime they had to do the small things that got us to this point: our passing game and our skating game,” Patten said. “The boys skated well tonight.”

Quotable: “After the Garden City loss, we ended up losing first place as well,” Pasquariello said. “It was kind of a bummer, but I think it lit a fire under [us] as well, because we came out here with more passion than ever.”

Bottom Line: It was inevitable that Bellmore-Merrick and Massapequa would meet in the finals. The two teams were nearly identical in the regular season. The Bulldogs scored 172 goals and allowed just 45 goals, while the Chiefs scored 162 and allowed 48.

“We set our goal for the final two and we achieved it, now we’ll get ready for Massapequa,” Patten said. “When you look at the teams, they’re identical – absolutely, positively identical. [We were] both 18-2, both programs had an amazing season, both programs have great players, and Massapequa has a great coach in Tony DeMayo. We wish them luck and we’re going to go for them.”

The two teams split the season series 1-1, with the slight goal advantage going to the Chiefs, 14-12.

Along with the Nassau County Finals, the Bulldogs are also headed to the New York State tournament in the beginning of March.

“The Bellmore-Merrick varsity high school hockey team will be taking its talents upstate to Buffalo on March 4, 5 and 6 for the state tournament,” Pasquariello said.

Who’s Next: Feb. 15, Bellmore-Merrick vs. Massapequa, 9:15 p.m. (Town of Oyster Bay Skating Center in Bethpage)

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