SUFFERN HOCKEY GOING TO FINAL FOUR

Division I state quarterfinal: Suffern defeats Shenendehowa (Section 2) 3-2 in OT
By JAKE THOMASES
THE JOURNAL NEWS
(Original publication: March 5, 2006)

MONSEY — Twice, a Daniels goal was immediately followed by the end-of-period buzzer. The first time, Justin Daniels put Suffern on the board as the first period expired. The second time, Drew Daniels' goal marked the end of the fourth period. Overtime, and Shenendehowa's season, came to a buzzing halt.

If you invested in blue and white face paint recently, the money should be rolling in. A packed Sport-O-Rama was again treated to a Suffern thriller, as the Mounties turned aside Shenendehowa 3-2 in overtime.

If the painted hordes are going to watch their heroes in the hockey state semifinals they'll need to fill their gas tanks. The final four takes place at Utica Memorial Auditorium on Saturday. Suffern, ranked No. 2 in the state, will face Section 5 champion Aquinas of Rochester, which is ranked fifth.

"Like I said last week, a lot of overtime goals aren't pretty," Mounties coach Rob Schelling said. "That one was pretty." It was after Mike Conklin's long slap shot ended a double-overtime extravaganza with Clarkstown North in the sectional final that Schelling made his assessment of overtime goals. Drew Daniels countered that with yesterday's game winner.

One minute and fifty-four seconds into the extra session, Daniels had the puck inadvertently batted to him as he stood alone near the right corner. Before the opposition could recover, he came at goalie Dan Patell, skating all the way across net to the left side before clanking a wrister off the left post.

"I saw he didn't really play the angle right, so I toe-dragged him," he said. "Got lucky, beat the goalie."

Drew vies with his brother for title of best puckhandler on the team and probably in the section. Even so, Schelling didn't think he could put it in.

When he did, last season's Shenendehowa demon was officially slayed. The Mounties (26-2) were dominated by the Plainsmen (16-8-3) in this playoff round. Only an outstanding effort by The Journal News Rockland player of the year, goalie Anthony Vertullo, kept the game at 3-0.

Vertullo's replacement Tom Natoli kept his head despite learning about this whole overtime thing on the fly. His 21 saves increased in difficulty as the game wore on, as the initially-frenetic Plainsmen settled down and put some pressure on.

They came out looking to beat Suffern into submission, desperate to prove they weren't the same bunch that had lost 6-0 early in the season. Bodies flew everywhere. Ultimately too many Shen bodies wound up in the penalty box.

Suffern could do nothing with seven power plays, though. Even when two Plainsmen were sent to the box in the final minute of the first period, it looked like they would escape unscathed. But Justin Daniels lit the lamp as time expired for the lead.

To go into the locker room empty-handed after seven power plays would have drained more confidence than the Mounties' cheering section could have put back. Shen took only one penalty the rest of the game. Shen took a 2-1 lead in the third period before Justin tied the score two minutes later off a nifty feed by Nick Clark.

"We have a lot of leadership," Schelling said. "The key guys that are getting most of the ice time have played in a lot of big games. I think they don't get uptight."
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Although Rob wishes they could have done this last year, it's a great accomplishment for the Suffern Mounties. I felt sorry for Shen Goalie Dan Patell after that puck trickled over the line, but he and his teammates played a fantastic game. He wrote a nice post on the Syracuse.com forum wishing the best of luck to Suffern. Very classy kid, and that goes for the whole Shen Spartans team and their fans (I see wowbagger68 agrees with me).

Suffern will travel to the Final Four in Utica this Saturday at 3:15 PM to play Aquinas (Rochester).