Brendan Oflaherty scored with 1:27 left in the third period, a minute after West Islip Gold (DV) had erased a two-goal deficit, and Sachem (DV) beat West Islip Gold 5-4 on Saturday at The Rinx – North Rink. Oflaherty finished with two goals. Luke Ventura’s hat trick for West Islip Gold wasn’t enough to keep Sachem from improving to 2-0-0-0. A packed house of parents filled the rink despite a nor’easter, and the noise grew through a frantic final minute.
Ventura opened the scoring with 13:36 left in the first, finishing a feed from James Walcott, who had no points entering the game. Sachem’s forecheck kept West Islip Gold pinned for long stretches after that, and Lucas Finamore, a steady presence on the forecheck all game, tied it 1-1 with 18 seconds left in the period, assisted by Patrick Rodriguez. Oflaherty, who entered with two goals in his first game, gave Sachem its first lead with 6:49 left in the second off a Lucas Raboy assist. Mason Stack answered on an unassisted power-play goal with 20 seconds left in the period, sending the teams to the third tied 2-2.
The third period belonged to Sachem early. Ryan Grucci scored his first career goal with 11:29 left, from Harrison Rodin. Hunter Mandello followed with his first career goal with 10:23 left on a well-built setup from Rodriguez. The back-to-back milestone goals drew a big reaction from the Sachem side and made it 4-2.
West Islip Gold called a timeout after falling behind by two, and Ventura answered with two goals in a span of 17 seconds. The first came on the power play with 2:45 left, assisted by Michael Coyle. The second, at even strength with 2:28 left and set up again by Walcott, completed his hat trick and tied the game 4-4.
Oflaherty restored the lead unassisted with 1:27 remaining. West Islip Gold pulled Liam Louvier for an extra attacker in the closing minutes. James Valdez, credited with the win for Sachem, made a diving stop in the final seconds to preserve the lead. Earlier, he had made a sprawling pad save on Ventura and a diving poke check to break up a Coyle breakaway. At the other end, Louvier, charged with the loss, made point-blank stops and was sharp on the penalty kill before leaving for the extra skater.
Sachem moves to 2-0-0-0, while West Islip Gold falls to 1-1-0-0 and will look to build on Ventura’s three-goal game in its next outing.
