Top-Seeded Kings Park-Commack Ice Hockey Defeats Northport/Huntington, 7-2

Matthew Goldberg had four goals to go along with captain Kyle Twining's three assists as undefeated Kings Park/Commack defeated the Northport/Huntington Tigers Monday, 7-2 in the Suffolk County High School Ice Hockey League.

"He's a complete player," said Kings Park (7-0-0) head coach Dave Rysdyk about Goldberg. "He moves the puck around to everyone so that by the time it gets back to him he's in position to score."

The Tigers (2-4-0), who were playing with only 12 skaters due to some unusual absences, failed to generate much offense against KPC early, and fell behind quickly.

"We had some no-shows," said Tigers' assistant coach Walter Janketic. "I'm not sure where everybody was. But we were a little shorthanded, and a little tired from last night and it definitely showed."

An already shortened bench was intensified by the fact that the Tigers took seven minor penalties over the course of the game. Kings Park/Commack turned three of those power play chances into goals.

"The penalties hurt us," said Janketic. "We got a short bench, some tired boys, killing all those penalites runs you down."

KPC scored their first power play goal of the game on a rebound chance in front at 3:28 of the first period. Goldberg pushed it over the goal line a fraction of a second before the net was dislodged. However, the referee was adament in his call that the goal would stand.

One minute and 14 seconds later, KPC's Brandon Amon was taken off for a roughing penalty, which afforded the Tigers their best scoring opportunity of the first period.

Northport's Julien Kann rushed past two defenders in the neutral zone and in on Seth Pachman, but Pachman made a sprawling kick save on the breakaway attempt.

Pachman stopped 21 of 23 shots he faced.

The game remained scoreless until Brett Kaiser took a feed from Twining to make it 2-0 at 10:33.

Goldberg struck again on the power play just prior to the 13 minute mark of the second period as he picked up a loose puck in the neutral zone, walked in and beat Bryan Deschamps short side.

On the ensuing faceoff, defenseman Matt Janketic was given a 10 minute misconduct for not having his mouthpiece in. The rule, which also penalizes the team with a two-minute minor penalty, left Northport with only 11 skaters for most of the second period.

The Tigers managed to kill off that penalty, and drew a pair of their own as penalties to Goldberg and Amon gave Northport a brief 5-on-3 man advantage. However, they were unable to sustain any attack in the offensive zone.

With less than a minute to go on Amon's penalty, Twining made a defensive play that not only saved KPC from surrendering a scoring opportunity, but led to one of their own.

A Northport forward overskated the puck just before the offensive blue line, where Twining was retreating. Twining's diving poke check from his knees not only thwarted the Tigers' attack, but sprung defenseman Dominic DiCostanzo on a breakaway, where he also beat Deschamps short side.

The goal ended Deschamps' night, as Joe Schrom replaced him before the next faceoff. He surrendered four goals on 14 shots, many of which coming from high percentage areas.

Goldberg scored his fourth and final goal of the game at 7:05 of the third period, while Kings Park was on the power play after Janketic took a tripping penalty at 8:49.

A few minutes later, Corey Twining, Kyle's brother, skated into the Tigers' zone and ripped a slap shot from the top of the right circle that rattled the waterbottle behind Schrom to make it 7-1.

The game got a bit chippy after that, with both teams receiving a pair of penalties for roughing.

"You want to limit the penalties," said Rysdyk. "We've got a big game coming up Wednesday night against Connetquot. You don't want to lose anyone for a game like that."