Karp's Hat Trick Leads Bulldogs to Playoff Victory

The Bellmore-Merrick boys hockey team jumped out to an early lead last night and held on for a 6-4 victory over Cold Spring Harbor in the first round of the division playoffs.  

Kennedy High School sophomore James Karp paced the Bulldogs with three goals at the Bethpage Ice Rink. 

The Bulldogs have been making a habit of getting out to early leads against their opponents and it was more of the same last night. Mepham junior Matt Hackett lit the lamp on a one-timer from the right side to open the scoring.  

"Awesome, simply put," Bellmore-Merrick coach Chris Patten said.  "It's huge to get out to an early lead.  It's important to set the tone and set the pace."

The Bulldogs, who had great success against the Seahawks all year, seemed to stay with the same basic plan - playing as a team, scoring timely goals and getting solid play out of their goaltender.

Calhoun sophomore Patrick Bedell was between the pipes for the Bulldogs last night and he blocked shot after shot and smothered almost every rebound.

Bedell had only one game to sharpen his skills after coming back from a long break from the ice. 

"There's definitely still rust," Bedell said, "but I'm making progress and there are still some improvements that can be made."

Just before the start of the second period, Patten rallied his boys into a frenzy with a empowering team chant. "1,2,3, Bulldogs," yelled the entire team.

Karp responded to his coach with a relentless effort beating two defenders, and being left all alone with the Seahawks goalie. Not after one or two but three initial saves, Karp got a little room off a rebound and with the goalie sprawling out on the ice, he lifted it high right, giving the Bulldogs a 2-0 lead.

"Karp had a big game," Patten said.

But the Seahawks, with their backs against the wall, scored two quick goals on shots from the point to even it up at 2-2.

After a timeout by the Bulldogs, Karp again responded with a deflection on a quick wrist shot from teammate James Bobb. The Bulldogs later got another hard earned goal from Calhoun sophomore Mike Ferrette.  

Ferrette somehow found a puck length gap between the right post and skate of the Seahawks goalie to put home his first of the playoffs.

"When guys start scoring like that it helps take the pressure off the top line, it's great," Patten said of Ferrette. 

The second period was packed with solid play from both teams, especially a 5-on-3 penalty kill by the Seahawks.  The Bulldogs led 4-3 after two periods.

The Seahawks, who maintained a competitive effort through the first two periods, seemed to come out a little flat but kept things close in the third.

Off a turnover in the Seahawks' defensive zone, Bobb capitalized for the Bulldogs. On the breakaway, Bobb made so many moves the Seahawks goalie might still be looking for the puck, as the Bulldogs took a 5-3 lead.  

The Bulldogs seemed to have a clear path to the next round with just more than two minutes remaining but a blast from the left faceoff circle beat Bedell and the Seahawks found themselves one goal away from forcing overtime.

After the Seahawks pulled their goalie in one last effort to claw their way back, a turnover in the neutral zone led to Karp's third goal of the night, and the bid to the next round of the playoffs.

"Last year the goal was to make the playoffs, this year it is to go deep," Patten said.

The Bulldogs head into the the second round as they take on top-seeded Long Beach High School at Newbridge Ice Rink tonight at 9 p.m.

"We're ready for them," Bedell said.  

Long Beach finished the regular season at 16-1-3.

"They're a great team, well coached, aggressive, but I don't want our players just saying it was great getting to the second round," Patten said.  "I think we have something for them."