YORKTOWN, N.Y.—Hockey season got underway for players in both of Yorktown's school districts last week.
The Cortlandt Rebels (which includes Lakeland players) started their season playing three games at the Guy Mathews Thanksgiving Invitational Hockey Tournament at Ebersole Ice Rink in White Plains.
Cortlandt played a spirited contest versus Mount Pleasant, before falling in overtime 2-1 on Nov. 30. The game was a vast improvement on the team's opening-night performance, a 9-1 loss against Rye Town/Harrison on Nov. 27.
“We just got a lot more organized play as a team,” said Rebels’ coach Bart Mucci on his squad’s play against Mount Pleasant. “We also played much better defensively. That gave Sean some real clean looks.”
Mucci was referring to Sean Mansfield, who recorded 31 saves.
“I tried to focus on my positioning and our defense played well in front of me, which allowed me to play my position as well as I did,” Mansfield said. “My coach simplified the game for us and we started playing a simpler and more efficient defense, keeping things more to the perimeter.”
Mount Pleasant took a 1-0 lead with a first-period goal before a goal at the 16:15 mark of the third period, scored by the Rebels’ Sean Foley, assisted by Nick Garofalo, tied the game at 1-1.
“We all felt relieved, it gave us a boost of energy, confidence to keep pushing, and to take it one shift at a time,” Mansfield said of Foley’s goal. We hit the post a few times, so it felt great when we got one.”
While Mount Pleasant eventually won with a goal in overtime, that couldn’t erase the good feeling the Rebels had about their performance.
“It felt great even though we lost, it meant a lot to us because even though we were down we didn’t give up, we played our best, and it gives us more hope for the future as we continue to get better,” Mansfield said.
Mucci said he was very proud of his team’s effort against Mount Pleasant.
“It was huge for us to gain some confidence,” Mucci said. “Obviously it would have been way better to win but we just didn’t get the other bounce.”
The Rebels’ Dylan Marthaler scored a third-period goal, assisted by Vincent Ofrias, and Brandon Di Benedetto recorded 19 saves, in the loss against Rye Town/Harrison.
The Rebels (0-3) finished the tournament on Dec. 1 against ETBE (Eastchester/Tuckahoe/Bronxville/Edgemont), losing 4-3, led by
Jake Di Benedetto (2G), Aidan Dzubak (1G), Foley (1A), Garofalo (1A), and Brandon Di Benedetto (18 saves).
Cortlandt’s next contest is 4 p.m. Friday, Dec. 6 against Pawling at the Brewster Ice Arena.
BYSNS (Brewster/Yorktown/Somers/North Salem) won its season opener against visiting Pearl River 11-2 at the Brewster Ice Arena on Dec. 1.
“It felt great to win my first game as head coach alongside this team and my assistant coach, Paul Murphy,” said Langkafel, who was previously a Bisons’ assistant coach the previous two seasons.
BYSNS got the jump on the visitors 9-0 when it exploded for nine first-period goals versus the Pirates.
“We were preparing all week for Game 1 and didn’t know what to expect from the other team, so we brought the energy, and intensity we’ve been building in practice,” Langkafel said.
Defensively, the Bisons were effective as well, shutting out Pearl River for the first two periods of the game.
“Defense has been a big focus of ours to start the year, coach Murphy does a great job working with them,” Langkafel said. “The d-pairs are mature and familiar with each other, they take pride in protecting our goalie and our net, especially when we have a lead.”
Lucas Salvatore (3G, 3A), AJ Jones (2G, 2A), Michael Bonelli (2G, 1A), James Munoz (2G, 1A), Jordan Millar (1G, 1A), Danny Luis (1G), Kaden Krempler (1A), Jake Lukse (1A), Sam Cucinell (1A), Ryan Dean (1A), and Patrick Vaughn (11 saves) all contributed to the victory.
The Bisons’ next game is on the road at 8:35 p.m. Friday, Dec. 6 against Mount Pleasant, at the Westchester Skating Academy.
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