Keil’s eight-point night propels T-Birds into the #8 Seed

HAUPPAUGE, N.Y. (LISN) — Senior Logan Keil scored five goals, including the game-winner, as the Connetquot/Sayville T-Birds (3-11) defeated the West Islip Lions (3-11) in a 9-7 thriller.

Senior Ciaran Pollard scored five goals for the Lions.

Junior Logan Booth added two goals and three assists.

Senior Richard Westhoff, backstopped Connetquot/Sayville to his second win in seven starts.

Sophomore Tyler Sapoff made multiple strong stops in his 7th start of the campaign for West Islip.

The Lions opened the scoring in the 1st period when Senior William Shields scored at 13:34.

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Pollard extended the lead to 2-0 with an unassisted goal at 11:23 in the first frame.

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Keil brought the T-Birds within one with his first goal at 10:47 in the opening stanza.

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Booth tied the game at 2-2 with 2:36 left in the 1st period.

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Booth struck again early at 13:59 of the 2nd period, putting Connetquot/Sayville ahead 3-2.

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Keil added a power-play marker with 12:54 left in the second frame, extending the T-Birds’ lead to 4-2.

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Pollard cut the deficit to 4-3 with an unassisted goal at 6:43 in the 2nd period.

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Sophomore Joey Villani potted his first of the night for the T-Birds with 4:16 remaining in the second stanza to make it 5-3.

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Pollard completed his hat trick at 3:03 in the second stanza, narrowing the score to 5-4.

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Pollard tied the game at 5-5 with a goal with 1:21 left in the second frame.

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Villani scored his second of the night and sixth of the season for Connetquot/Sayville with 10:45 remaining the 3rd period to make it 6-5.

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Pollard tied it once more at 8:45 in the final frame with an unassisted goal.

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The T-birds came roaring back, but Sapoff managed to hold them off.

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After the save by Sapoff, Senior Ryan Flynn gave the Lions a brief 7-6 lead with his first career varsity goal at 7:10 of the 3rd period.

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Keil completed the hat-trick with 4:50 remaining in regulation.

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27 seconds later, Keil scored the eventual game winner to make it 8-7 T-Birds.

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With 4 seconds remaining in regulation, Keil iced the Lions for his fifth of the night and twelfth strike of the season.

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Box Score

Three Stars of the Game

Upcoming Schedule

The West Islip Lions (3-11) square off against the Middle Country Cougars (1-13) on Wednesday, January 8 at 6:50 pm. The Lions defeated the Cougars 7-6 back in October.

The Connetquot/ Sayville T-Birds (3-11) kick off the New Year against undefeated St. Anthony’s on Wednesday, January 8 at 9:20 pm. The T-Birds fell 7-1 when these two teams last met in the month of October.