Cortlandt, seeded No. 12, rallied late but fell just short in a 4-3 loss to No. 5 Horace Greeley/John Jay-Cross River in the opening round of the Section 1 Division 1 Tournament on Feb. 19 at Brewster Ice Arena.
It was the third meeting between the two squads, with Horace Greeley/John Jay-CR (14-5-1) winning both regular-season meetings by scores of 4-1 and 9-3.
“It was a heck of an effort tonight,” said Cortlandt coach Bart Mucci. “We scored twice with the goalie pulled to make it a close one.”
That came when Nate Herbert scored unassisted with 2:03 left in the game before scoring again, this time assisted by Hudson Tarkington, with 1:28 remaining in the contest, pulling the Rebels to within one, 4-3.
“We were able to cut the Greeley-Jay lead to one late in game with the teamwork from everyone and the effort everyone gave,” said Cortlandt junior defenseman Anthony Costa. “In the final minutes everyone gave it everything they had, leaving everything on the ice. The feeling was amazing as within a minute, we gave ourselves a chance late in the game and gave everyone hope.”
Cortlandt junior goalie Brandon Di Benedetto said Herbert’s two goals were really exciting and, like Costa said, gave the Rebels a lot of hope.
“If we had more time maybe things would’ve been different because it sparked the bench and everyone came alive,” Di Benedetto said. “It stinks it had to end that way but nobody can be mad with the effort by the whole team.”
Di Benedetto made 28 saves, including 12 in the opening period as the game remained tied 0-0.
“We worked a lot at practice on keeping people out of the front of the net and to the outside and it showed tonight,” Di Benedetto said. “A lot of the shots from there were easy for me to handle and even though we were in our zone most of the period, we were able to play solid defense and limit their scoring chances.”
Greeley/John Jay-CR took a 1-0 lead in the second period before Aidan Dzubak scored, courtesy of assists by Costa and Tarkington, to tie the game at 1-1 with 13:35 left in the period.
“The goal came about from a great team power play breakout to a great goal by captain Aidan Dzubak,” Costa said. “To have the game tied was a great feeling but game was not done and we still had to keep battling.”
While the Rebels fell just short of winning its sectional game, overall the season was a success, as the team qualified for the postseason after overcoming a 3-8 start.
“I’m very proud of this group, it was an amazing second half,” Mucci said.
The Rebels didn’t expect to finish where they did.
“I don’t think anybody on our team was expecting to be where we are at now,” Di Benedetto said. “The start of the season was slow but everyone stayed confident in how we knew how to play. Everyone progressed in many ways this year from our players that have been playing since they were little to the guys that started in high school, wanting to find a new hobby. This finish was perfect momentum to next year because I know we will be back and even better than before.”
Di Benedetto, Costa, senior Carmine Cusma and sophomores Aiden Rau, Christian Waugh, Brandon Stytzer, Brett Marthaler, Austin Oubino, Vinny Belmonte, Dominick Cusma and Vinny Bottolico are the Rebels who attend Lakeland.
BYSNS (Brewster/Yorktown/Somers/North Salem) nipped host Pawling 3-2 in its regular-season finale on Feb. 16, led by Lucas Salvatore (1G, 2A), Jordan Millar (1G, 1A), James Munoz (1G), Ryan Dean (1A) and Patrick Vaughn (40 saves), as they finished the regular season at 14-3.
“The key to this game was to stick to the game plan,” Dean said. “We went up 3-0 in the first but then Pawling came back and made the game 3-2. But we stuck to the game plan and we stuck [it] out with the win.”
BYSNS earned the No. 3 seed in the Section 1 Division 1 Tournament and a first-round bye that came with it. The Bisons, weather permitting, are scheduled to host No. 6 Scarsdale at the Brewster Ice Arena on Feb. 23 in a quarterfinal game.
Scarsdale advanced to the quarterfinals with a 2-1 victory over No. 11 White Plains in the opening round on Feb. 19.
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