East Islip (JV) trailed by five goals midway through the second period and came back to beat Smithtown/Hauppauge Blue (JV) 7-6 on Sunday at The Rinx – North Rink. Christian Faller recorded a hat trick and an assist, and Luke Leroux scored the game-winner with 3:33 left in regulation as East Islip scored seven of the game’s final eight goals in the season opener for both teams.
Smithtown/Hauppauge Blue controlled the first half of the game. Cole Kozak scored unassisted with 6:43 left in the first period, and the visitors added four more goals in a span of 5:36 in the second. Luke Jarrett scored with 13:47 left on a feed from Kozak, Jake Hayes followed at 10:29 with Landon Kram assisting, Jarrett scored again at 9:21 off a Hayes setup, and John Ferraro made it 5-0 unassisted with 8:11 left in the period.
East Islip answered before the second intermission. Faller scored with 6:36 left, assisted by Robert Harrison, and Alex Walsh added a goal at 4:55 from Myles Mazzarone. Faller struck again with 1:15 remaining off a feed from Justin Bogarowski. Ferraro restored a three-goal cushion with 49 seconds left, scoring on an assist from Jarrett to make it 6-3 after two.
The third period belonged to East Islip, which outscored Smithtown/Hauppauge Blue 4-0. Faller completed his hat trick unassisted with 12:27 left. Rory Straub scored 12 seconds later on an assist from Bryan Freisem, and Walsh tied the game 6-6 with an unassisted goal at 11:32, giving East Islip three goals in 55 seconds. Leroux then scored the winner, assisted by Faller and Bogarowski, who finished with two assists.
Joseph Azar earned the win for East Islip, now 1-0-0-0, while allowing six goals. Blake Benway took the loss for Smithtown/Hauppauge Blue, now 0-1-0-0, allowing seven. Jarrett led Smithtown/Hauppauge Blue with two goals and an assist, and Ferraro, Kozak and Hayes each had two points. Both teams will try to build on a high-scoring opener in their next games.
