Andrew Firth scored three goals and added an assist, and East Islip opened its season with an 8-1 win over Eastport-South Manor on Monday at The Rinx – South Rink. Jordan Haines matched Firth with four points on a goal and three assists, and East Islip scored four times in both the first and third periods.
East Islip took control in the final five minutes of the opening period. Landon Musumeci opened the scoring with 4:30 left, and Firth followed with 3:43 remaining for what stood as the winning goal. Ryan Bradley then converted on the power play with 2:15 left to make it 3-0.
Alexander Wojciechowski answered for Eastport-South Manor with 1:21 left in the first, with Alex Jablonski assisting, to cut the deficit to 3-1. East Islip restored its three-goal cushion when Matthew Freisem scored off a Firth feed with 20 seconds left in the period.
After a scoreless second period, East Islip pulled away in the third. Firth scored with 13:23 left, and Peter Marazzito added another nine seconds later. Haines scored unassisted with 8:16 remaining. Firth completed his hat trick on a power play with 6:00 left, assisted by Christopher Blaschuk and Haines. James Walsh finished with two assists, and Blaschuk and Musumeci each had two points as East Islip got goals from six different players.
Ryan Rauscher allowed one goal and earned the win for East Islip, which improved to 1-0-0-0. Damian Zacharewicz allowed eight goals and took the loss for Eastport-South Manor, which fell to 0-1-1-0. Eastport-South Manor was whistled for five of the game’s seven penalties, including a cross-checking minor and a 10-minute misconduct to Ryan Dierlam in the third period.
East Islip will look to build on its season-opening win, while Eastport-South Manor seeks its first victory.
