St. John the Baptist Hockey falls to Smithtown 4-2 in Penalty Riddled Game

Frustrations boiled over between Smithtown and between the whistles in a penalty-riddled contest Monday night at The Rinx.

But according to a report from one of his own players, Bulls' head coach Vincent Granice wasn't satisfied leaving it on the ice.

After barely winning 4-2 over the last-place Cougars (0-11-1), Granice allegedly went on a profane rant inside the Smithtown locker room, which could be heard by parents, spectators and many league officials standing around the rink.

During his tirade, he also allegedly kicked and broke the stick of Bulls' forward Matt Hobby before swinging the locker room door open and storming out of the arena.

"He was going crazy," said the source who spoke on a condition of anonymity. "He was screaming, 'f' this, 'f' that. I had to stop listening. Then as he was leaving he turned and kicked a pile of sticks hard and walked out."

Granice did not immediately return an email requesting comment.

Early in the third period, Granice began sending players from his own bench to the locker room during stoppages of play. One of these players, senior John Rossi, had seen enough.

When asked why he was kicked off the ice by his own coach, Rossi said, "because I got a penalty. If he doesn't play me Wednesday, I won't be surprised. But at this point, I don't even care."

The game, which had gotten just as ugly between the teams as it had between Granice and his players, saw the Bulls (9-3-0) jump out to a 3-0 lead by the end of the first period on goals by Nick Mangia, Brian Boser and Chris Grote.

Smithtown, ironically, capitalized on a few power play chances early as the Cougars were unable to stay away from the penalty box.

St. John's took five penalties in the first period, and 19 over the course of the game.

As per Suffolk County Hockey League rules, any time a team reaches 15 penalties, the head coach will be suspended the following game. Both teams surpassed the limit.

answered back with a power play goal of their own 5:47 into the second period, when Brandon Tirelli took a feed from Matt O'Shaugnessy and beat Smithtown goaltender Danny Nudelman. Nudelman stopped 14 of the 16 shots he faced.

Nearly five minutes later, James Schreiber replenished Smithtown's three-goal cushion with a power play goal of his own at 11:42.

O'Shaugnessy capped the scoring early in the third period as he beat Nudelman after dancing around two Smithtown defenders to make it 4-2 with 12:20 to play, but the Cougars were unable to generate much more offense.

The Bulls will play defending league champion Middle Country Wednesday night without Granice behind the bench.

News & Notes: Middle Country has won eight of their last nine since losing to Smithtown 8-4 on October 4 ... With the win, Smithtown pulls into a three-way tie for third place with Connetquot/Sayville and Middle Country ... Middle Country upset the second-seeded Bulls last year in the Suffolk County finals ... It was the second time they lost in the finals in the previous three years (to St. Anthony's in 2008).