Legends fall to Mamaroneck, 9-5

The Sleepy Hollow/Irvington High School Legends were dealt a 9-5 loss by a superior Mamaroneck Tigers hockey team Saturday night.

The Legends (3-3-2) were simply outmatched by Mamaroneck; a team that won last year's Section One championship and is currently undefeated and ranked third in the state.

"These guys have been killing everyone in our league," said Legends head coach Howie Wiener. "We played hard and we didn't play poorly; it's just that they have a couple guys that could probably play college hockey right now."

Mamaroneck controlled the first period of play, and continually pushed into the attack zone, pressing back the Legends.

Six minutes into the game, one of Mamaroneck's star players, Joe Naclerio, scored on an assisted breakaway. Naclerio would score four times during the game.

An offsides call prevented another Tigers' goal less than a minute later.

The Legends were able to muster a response with Forward John Garro (junior, Sleepy Hollow) feeding the puck to Bradlee Pesce (senior, Irvington) who managed to sneak it pass the Tigers' goalie in the eighth minute.

But that was all the the Legends could muster for the next 22 minutes.

The Tigers' scored two more goals before the end of the first period. The first goal was a during a one-on-two attack by Mamaroneck's Scott Hagan; the next came less than ten seconds later when Naclerio again made a fast break up the side immediately following the face-off.

The second period was no better for the Legends, with Mamaroneck scoring five unanswered goals.

As the final minutes of the second period winded down, Wiener called a timeout and instructed the Legends hit the mental reset button on the game.

"Once they got up to 7-1 we really made it a goal to make it a 0-0 game," Wiener said.

The second period closed with a Tigers' slap-shot goal by Dean Chiapparelli, making it 8-1 at the break.

However, when the Legends came back on the ice, the momentum shifted and they managed to outscore the Tigers 4-1 in the final period.

The Legends' second goal came in the first minute of the third period on a drive by Irvington junior Andrew Enax, assisted by Bradlee Pesce.

Then the Legends' Brett Pesce (sophomore, Irvington) scored two unanswered and unassisted goals after weaving through the Mamaroneck defenses.

Bradlee Pesce scored again for the Legends' last point, late in the third period, after being assisted by Kevin Halpin (freshman, Irvington) and John Garro.

Wiener attributed the Legends' third-period performance to a settling of nerves.

"Of course our kids are going to be a little intimidated when they start out," Wiener said. "Then they learn they can play with them a little and we made some adjustments between periods."

Last year the Legends were 16-4 at the end of the season. Their impressive league play bumped them up a competitive bracket this season, making for much tougher-fought matches.

"We really went into this as a learning game," Wiener said. "Hopefully we take something out of it."

Despite their mixed record, the Legends only need one more win to secure a place in the playoffs.

Wiener said the team is concentrating on hitting its stride for the post season.

"We are always better at the end," he said. "We're trying to prime here toward the end of the season and make a good playoff run."