Sachem Advances To JV Finals

Chase Saunders completed the hat-trick as Sachem defeated the PatMed Raiders 6-4.  Michael Walsh started in goal for Sachem. Luke Tannenbaum got the nod in net for the PatMed Raiders. 

C.J. Pena opened the scoring to put Sachem up 1-0 lead 13:41 remaining in the opening frame. Pena entered the Raiders zone, walked the goal line and sniped top shelf over the shoulder of Tannenbaum with a shot that popped the Raiders netminder’s bottle. James Drago scored with 11:19 left in the 1st period to extend the Sachem lead to 2-0. Drago deftly deflected a pass through the neutral zone past one defender, batted it down to evade a backchecker, and dangled past the last defender before going backhand-forehand to snipe top shelf. Jake Raineri made it a 2-1 game with 6:19 left in the first frame. Rocco Azzara’s pass was deflected on its way to Jake Strong, who regathered the puck as he slipped by a defender to fire a shot that led to Raineri burying the rebound. Chase Saunders scored a power play goal to put Sachem back up by two with 31 seconds remaining in the 1st period. Saunders fired an off-angle shot through traffic that beat the netminder. 

Chase Saunders picked up right where he left off with 13:55 remaining in the second stanza to give Sachem a 4-1 lead. Saunders collected a pass off the wall from C.J. Pena before cutting left-to-right to enter the PatMed zone where he fired a shot that beat the netminder low blocker. Logan Stoltenberg scored the eventual game winner with 2:28 left in the 2nd period. A pass from James Drago rolled off the skate of Stoltenberg before being kicked off the skate of a PatMed defender in the slot. Stoltenberg regained possession, cut right-to-left and slid it past the outstretched pad of the netminder. Jake Strong made it a 5-2 game with 35 seconds remaining in the second stanza. Strong entered the Sachem zone 2 on 1 before beating the defender with a toe drag as he pulled the puck in to fire a shot that went off the arm of the netminder and into the back of the net. 

Just 29 seconds into the 3rd period, Jake Strong scored a power play goal to cut the Sachem lead to two. Strong forced a turnover, dragged the puck past the defense, and poked it away from the netminder before finding the back of the net. Chase Saunders completed the hat-trick to put Sachem back up by three with 6:17 left in the final frame. Saunders slipped behind the defense in transition, received a stretch pass from Tyler Anderson, and faked backhand-forehand on a breakaway to beat the Raiders netminder. PatMed pulled Luke Tannenbaum in favor of an extra attacker with 2:45 remaining in the 3rd period. Jake Strong scored to complete the hat-trick with 1:31 left in regulation. Strong buried a rebound as bodies piled up in front of Walsh’s cage. Sachem held on to win 6-4.

Scoring Summary

Three Stars of the Game