BUFFALO — A Shenendehowa rally came up short, and the Plainsmen fell 5-3 on Saturday morning to Section I’s Suffern in the Division I state hockey semifinals at HarborCenter.
Down 4-1 midway through the third period, the Plainsmen battled back to make it a one-goal game with a power play goal from Colin Palmer and a second tally coming from Nolan Sullivan. Shortly after the second goal, Shenendehowa went on the power play once again with a chance to tie the game, but did not convert. Meanwhile, Suffern’s Ryan Schelling tacked on a shorthanded empty-net goal — his fourth goal of the game — as the Mounties sealed their berth in Sunday’s state final.
“Our goal was to put ourselves in a position that we were in the last five minutes of the game and we never quit,” Shenendehowa head coach Juan de la Rocha said.
Suffern got on the board first, scoring just over 12 minutes into the contest on Schelling’s first score of the day on a 3-on-1 break, but it was quickly followed up by a goal from Shenendehowa’s Evan Stocker on a close-range one-timer just over four minutes later to tie it at 1-1.
For a while after that, it was all Suffern. The Mounties scored twice in the second period, with Aaron Shulman knocking home a rebound just past the five-minute mark, followed up by Schelling’s second of the game less than four minutes later to make it 3-1. Shenendehowa got its first power play of the game late in the second period, but the Plainsmen took a penalty of their own 51 seconds later to take away the advantage.
“It happened. Our guys were just playing hard and that stuff is going to happen. It might have taken away a little bit of momentum but I didn’t feel like it deflated the bench. This is a team where we just don’t quit,” de la Rocha said. “We gave it all that we had and we can walk away with our heads held high.”
Schelling scored his third of the game 3:38 into the third, with Wyatt Levy picking up his second assist of the game.
Shenendehowa struggled to put shots on the board for the first two periods, which put them in the 4-1. The Plainsmen only had three shots in the first period and two more in the second.
“We preach the same message all the time. Shots on goal and puck possession don’t matter if you’re not getting pucks on the net,” de la Rocha said. :We weren’t worried about being out-shot or out-possessed, we knew we had to play good defensive hockey and take opportunities when we had them.”
The loss ended a 16-8-1 season for the Plainsmen, who won a Section II title for the first time since 2014 and reached the state semifinals for the first time since 2005.
“I think that this group was a terrific example to younger players coming up on how to play the game together, how to play within a system and how to never quit,” de la Rocha said. “We’ve come a long way as a group.”
Categories: -Sports-, High School Sports
