October 17, 2007

Stars Pick Up 4 Points at New Hampshire Monarchs Fall Classic

Syracuse battled through a long 3-game weekend picking up four points at the New Hampshire Monarchs Fall Classic keeping them at the top of the Northern Division and the only remaining undefeated team in the Eastern Junior Hockey League.

Friday Nights’ contest against the New Hampshire Monarchs saw outstanding goaltending as both teams battled to a 1-1 tie. After a scoreless first half of the game, New Hampshire got up on the scoreboard first on a power play goal by Owen Carpino with 7:18 left in the game. Syracuse answered back with 4:27 left in the game on a Chris Cannizarro power play goal assisted by Trevor Lewis and Alex Durinka. Both teams were scoreless in the overtime while New Hampshire’s James Mello stopped 38 of 39 shots and Syracuse’s Chris Noonan stopped 36 of 37 shots.

On Saturday, the league’s two undefeated teams went head to head as Syracuse and the NJ Hitmen battled back and forth to a classic
3-3 tie. New Jersey answered first on a Ryan Craig goal 1:11 into the game. Syracuse answered back on an Alex Durinka goal, assisted by Brendan Wharity, and only 1:27 later Syracuse responded again on a beautiful goal by Chris Cannizarro, assisted by Trevor Lewis and Jared Williams. Down 2-1, New Jersey battled back to even the score on a Josh Newberg goal and later took the lead on a Garet Chumley goal with 4:18 left in the game to make it 3-2. With a 0:56 left in the game Syracuse pulled their goalie sending the extra attacker out and with :07 left in the game Syracuse’s Dan Ford buried the puck from the top of the face off circle to tie the game 3-3. With a scoreless overtime, both teams headed into Sunday still undefeated. New Jersey’s Jon Morrow stopped 25 of 28 shots while Syracuse’s Chris Noonan stopped 28 of 31 shots.

After two overtime games in two days, Syracuse knew they had their work cut out for them as they headed into Sunday to face the Green Mountain Glades. Syracuse opened the scoring 1:04 into the game on a Brendan Wharity goal assisted by Jared Williams and Alex Durinka. The Glades answered back to notch the game at 1-1 on a goal from Michael Donnellan 5:18 into the game. Syracuse responded back going a head 3-1 on a power play goal by Matt Wilson, assisted by Dan Lassik and Trevor Lewis, and a goal by Chris Cannizarro, assisted by Trevor Lewis and Kurt Akers. The Glades battled back scoring two goals in 2:07 seconds to tie the game at 3-3. With the first two games of the weekend going into overtime, Syracuse was determined to do what ever it took to try and end this game in regulation. With 13:34 remaining in the game, Syracuse’s Trevor Lewis scored a power play goal assisted by Rob Morton and Cannizarro to give Syracuse a 4-3 lead. Both teams battled hard the remaining 13 minutes of the game as Syracuse held on to win 4-3. Syracuse’s Marc Stuart stopped 28 of 31 shots to notch the victory.