Captain Joseph Miklitsch scored with 1:19 left in overtime, and St. Anthony’s beat Smithtown/Hauppauge 4-3 on Wednesday night at The Rinx – North Rink. The season opener was a rematch of last year’s championship series. Lines stretched into the parking lot before the opening faceoff, and the student sections were packed from the start.
St. Anthony’s lost a large group of veterans from last season, but two newcomers made an immediate impact. Jake Evans scored twice in his varsity debut. He opened the scoring with 12:40 left in the first period, finishing a turnover with a screen in front. Andrew Cevallos, called up from the JV, had a goal and two assists and figured in each of the first three St. Anthony’s goals.
The game turned physical early. St. Anthony’s played the rest of the night without Anthony Catizone, who received a major and a game misconduct for holding late in the first period. Cevallos made it 2-0 with 2:04 left in the period, but Ryan Anderson answered on the power play with 40 seconds remaining to cut the deficit to 2-1.
Evans restored the two-goal cushion midway through the second period on a clean breakaway, making it 3-1. Smithtown/Hauppauge came right back. John Avlonitis scored with 6:06 left in the period, and Jack Hinteman tied it 3-3 on the power play with 3:22 remaining. Hinteman was dangerous all night and created several breakaway chances.
The third period was scoreless, and the crowd grew louder as regulation wound down. Smithtown/Hauppauge used a timeout with about a minute left to set up a final push. In the closing seconds, Christopher Kancza lifted Luke Anderson’s stick with the puck inches from the goal line, sending the game to overtime. In the extra period, Benjamin Caraher won a clean faceoff and went to the net to screen, and Miklitsch scored the winner. Caraher also scored the goal that clinched last year’s championship series.
Christopher Urso earned the win in his first varsity start. Jacob Caradonna took the overtime loss for Smithtown/Hauppauge. St. Anthony’s opens at 1-0-0-0, and Smithtown/Hauppauge, now 0-0-0-1, will look to turn its comeback effort into a first win.
