Mamaroneck Ice Hockey Rolls Scarsdale 9-3

Most nights, the third period is the strongest for the Mamaroneck ice hockey team. This Saturday night, Senior Night at the Hommocks Park Ice Rink, the first period was the Tigers' strongest. Five goals after the period started, the final buzzer sounded with Mamaroneck (13-2) leading 5-1 on its way to a convincing 9-3 blowout of arch-rival Scarsdale (4-9-1).

The goals came fast and furious in that frantic first, when the Tigers scored their first three goals just 1:01 apart, starting at 1:19 of the opening period as junior Craig Schiff tapped in a rebound. Forty-five seconds later, Dean Chiapparelli sent Scott Hagan in on a breakaway against Scarsdale goaltender Connor Wolfe. Hagan's deke took Wolfe completely out of position, and Hagan (15 goals) easily deposited the puck into twine to give Mamaroneck a 2-0 lead.

Just 16 seconds later, Mamaroneck came into the offensive zone right off the faceoff, and Matt Conner (17 goals) easily sent the puck home off the feed from captain Joe Naclerio.

"It means a lot," senior Sam Crumm said of playing on Senior Night. "We've played a lot of games here, and have so many great memories here at Hommocks."

It took Mamaroneck four more minutes to score their next goal, when Nick Plett found David Dansky (five goals) for the slapper.

After Scarsdale's Ian Klein (10 goals) beat Tigers goaltender Alex Harwood on a breakaway with 5:55 left in the first period, Matt Conner scored his second of the period from Plett and Mike Wojciechowski at 13:45 to give Mamaroneck their 5-1 first intermission lead.

"We wanted to come out and play hard," said Mamaroneck coach Mike Chiapparelli, who was named 2009 Coach of the Year by the New York State High School Baseball Coaches Association this week. "We really wanted to take [Scarsdale] out of the game early."

Mamaroneck scored all four second period goals on tallies from Chiapparelli, Hagan, Dansky, and Joe Naclerio to take a 9-1 lead into the third period.

"We treated them like we do any other opponent," said junior defenseman Luke Schanz. "We practiced really hard all week. We wanted to send the seniors out right."

Chris Morris came on in the goal-tending position for Mamaroneck to start the third, and gave up a goal with 4:35 left in the game to sniper Matt Oliverio (30 goals), who then scored again with 2:35 left on junior goaltender Brett Poniros, who saw 4:35 of ice time in the third .

Mamaroneck's next game is scheduled for Tuesday at the Ice Hutch against Pelham. Their final regular season home game is February 9 against Fordham Prep. The puck drops for that game at 8:20 p.m.

Tonight's game was televised by LMC-TV. They will air the game next weekend, immediately following today's Mamaroneck Boys Basketball game. Check www.lmc-tv.org for exact air times beginning at 5pm on Friday, February 5.