Bulls Win A Boat, Set Sail For Saugerties  

Introducing your 2023-2024 SCHSHL champions, the Smithtown Hauppauge Bulls. Junior Brendan Landrigan scored twice in a three point performance to lift the Smithtown Hauppauge Bulls to a 5-3 victory over the St. Anthony’s Friars in Game 3 to complete the reverse sweep. Landrigan, who led all scorers with 5 goals and 7 points in the postseason, has been named the SCHSHL Playoffs MVP by LISN. 

The Captain, Bobby Trites, scored the go-ahead goal in the Bulls victory. Senior Victor D’Errico scored once and added two assists to erase an early 1-0 lead for the Friars. Junior Gavin Bareham added three assists for the Bulls. D’Errico centered Bareham and Landrigan, a trio that made up the Bulls best line in the best of three series. Junior David Wetzel scored the eventual game winner on the power play. Patrick Ryan was stellar in net for the Bulls. 

It’s the second championship in as many seasons for Brendan Landrigan, who captained the Smithtown Hauppauge JV squad to a title in the 2022-2023 campaign. Landrigan’s Bulls lost game one of that series as well, before winning back-to-back games to beat the St. Anthony’s JV Gold Friars. Fellow Juniors Gavin Bareham, Jackson Cantalupo, J.P. D’Allessandro, R.J. Phfister and Shane Reidy were all members of that Bulls JV squad. Seniors Patrick Malone, Patrick Ryan and Timmy Sellito played a key role in last season’s JV championship squad before winning a title in what will be each players lone varsity campaign. 

Senior T.J. Ulmschneider got the nod in net for the Friars. Seniors Louis Cutalo IV and Gerard Nealon scored for the St. Anthonys. Sophomore Tommy Azzariti picked up his team leading fourth goal of the playoffs. Friars captain Brady Monteleone tallied an assist in a strong showing for St. Anthony’s.

Gerard Nealon scored his first career postseason goal in his final SCHSHL game to give the Friars a 1-0 lead just 1:08 into the opening frame. An awkward bounce off a shot from center ice led to the puck skipping over the shoulder of the Bulls netminder. Brendan Landrigan evened the score with 1:28 remaining in the first period. Victor D’Errico won a battle along the boards to Gavin Bareham, who fired a shot that led to a rebound that Landrigan buried from the net front. 

Victor D’Errico potted his first of the playoffs to put the Bulls up 2-1 just 36 seconds into the 2nd period. Brendan Landrigan made a nice feed to Gavin Bareham, who fired a shot off the cycle that was denied by Ulmschneider. The Friars netminder stopped D’Errico’s first rebound attempt before the Bulls center went five-hole on his second try. Louis Cutalo IV netted his second of the playoffs to make it a 2-2 game with 7:29 remaining in the second stanza. Brady Monteleone got to work on the cycle, Gerard Nealon collected the puck in the corner and dished it across to Junior Brody O’Doherty. The Friars defenseman slid the puck across for a cutting Monteleone, who redirected the puck off his boot for Cutalo IV to score. Patrick Ryan made a great effort on the play, but the Bulls netminder had little chance to recover thanks to the Friars strong puck movement. Bobby Trites scored the go-ahead goal with 58 seconds left in the second frame. Andre McGraime steered the puck away from the slot before making a pass of the wall for Jackson Cantalupo, who chipped it off the boards to create a 2 on 1 with Trites. Cantalupo entered the Friars zone, finessed his way past the defender, and slid it to the back door where the Captain buried it. 

The Bulls jumped out to a 4-2 lead with 8:18 remaining in the 3rd period courtesy of a power play goal by David Wetzel, his first of the playoffs. Trites moved the puck low-to-high for Wetzel, who beat the netminder on a wrist shot from the point that went off the far side pipe and in. Saint Anthony’s Tommy Azzariti scored his fourth postseason goal with 7:14 left in the third frame to make it a one score game. Brody O’Doherty went coast-to-coast, fired a shot that led to a rebound in the slot where a failed clearing attempt by the Bulls ricocheted off Azzariti and into the net. Brendan Landrigan scored his second of the night with 3:05 remaining in regulation to put the Bulls up 5-3. Victor D’Errico won the defensive zone draw to Landrigan, who gave it right back to the Bulls center to carry it up ice. D’Errico made an outlet pass to Gavin Bareham, who cut in from the left wing wall before making a pass across the slot for Landrigan to fire it into a wide open net. The Bulls fifth goal would be the dagger. St. Anthony’s called timeout before pulling Ulmschneider in favor of an extra attacker with over three minutes remaining. The Bulls prevented the Friars 6 on 5 man advantage from amounting to anything, as Smithtown Hauppauge ended St. Anthony’s hopes of a three-peat in the SCHSHL Finals.

LISN Scoring Summary

LISN Three Stars Of The Game

Finals Thoughts & Upcoming Schedule

Before we dive right in, I’d like to congratulate the Smithtown Hauppauge Bulls on becoming the new Suffolk County Champions. The St. Anthony’s Friars didn’t make it easy for them. As someone who played for a Bulls squad that fell just short in his senior season, I know how they feel. It may seem hard now, but I hope you will look back on all the memories you made from this season and be grateful that you made it this far. You are part of a select few who did. If we are lucky then we will see a rematch at states. The East Islip Chiefs or Kings Park Commack Knights, who both qualified for states after advancing to the Semifinals, will be looking to prevent that rematch from happening.

While the SCHSHL Varsity playoffs may be over, we have a lot of hockey left ahead of us on the Long Island Sports Network. The Junior Varsity playoffs, Freshman playoffs and Developmental playoffs are coming up next. The leagues future belongs to these young players. This season’s varsity finals wound up being a rematch of last year’s JV championship series where Brendan Landrigan led the Bulls to the promise land. Don’t sleep on the Freshman finals either given the fact that the Friars leading goal scorer, Tommy Azzariti, led the Friars to a title at that level before making the jump to Varsity. We have more coverage of all three of the aforementioned divisions heading your way. As for the Varsity level, we will see you on Friday, March 1st in Saugerties for the NYASHA High School Club Tournament.