Owen Karpoich scored twice in the third period and Justin Cahn broke a 3-3 tie with 34 seconds left as Northport/Huntington rallied from a two-goal deficit to beat Connetquot/Sayville/BBP 4-3 on Monday night at The Rinx – North Rink. Both teams entered winless, and Northport/Huntington left with its first victory of the season, improving to 1-3-0-0, while Connetquot/Sayville/BBP fell to 0-3-1-0.
Connetquot/Sayville/BBP controlled long stretches of the first two periods with a hard forecheck. Gavin Beisel opened the scoring with 10:03 left in the first, finishing a feed from Richard Ogburn Jr. with Jessie Ogburn also assisting. Northport/Huntington answered late in the period when Owen Spardel tipped in a shot with 48 seconds remaining, assisted by Karpoich and Luke Scheibe, to tie it 1-1 heading into the intermission.
The Ogburn-King line kept generating turnovers early in the second. Ogburn Jr. put Connetquot/Sayville/BBP back in front 2-1 with 14:26 left in the period, assisted by Beisel and Bennett King. Beisel then scored his second of the night with 9:35 remaining, set up by Joseph Villani and Ogburn Jr., for a 3-1 lead. A scuffle during the second period, in which the net came off, briefly raised the intensity in the building.
Northport/Huntington had stronger legs in the third and scored three unanswered goals. Karpoich cut the deficit to 3-2 with 9:51 remaining, assisted by Cahn and Lucas Serino, then tied it with 3:24 left, set up by Spardel and Zachary Smith. The crowd grew louder with each goal, and the building erupted when Cahn scored the winner with 34 seconds left, assisted by Karpoich and Serino.
Northport/Huntington called a timeout after taking the lead to organize its defense. Connetquot/Sayville/BBP pulled Jake Degenfelder for an extra attacker in the final 30 seconds but could not find the equalizer. Degenfelder took the loss with four goals allowed, and Rex Moscati, whom Northport/Huntington kept in net through its 0-3 start, earned the win while allowing three.
Karpoich finished with two goals and two assists. Those were his first goals of the season; he had one assist in two games coming in. Beisel had two goals and an assist for Connetquot/Sayville/BBP after entering with three assists and no goals, and Ogburn Jr. added a goal and two assists. Northport/Huntington will try to build on its first win, while Connetquot/Sayville/BBP keeps searching for its first.
