High School
The SCHSHL Quarterfinals Preview
The regular season may be finished, but the road to the finals has only just begun. Nothing is guaranteed, everything is earned. With all four semifinals games set to take place on Monday February 12th at the Rinx, I sat down with LISN Founder Mike Brown as well as PXP Announcers Ian Behnke, Travis Quigley and Brendan Yerkes to make our picks for round one.
The Matchups
Game One — The #8 Seed Ward Melville Patriots v. # 1 Seed East Islip on the South Rink at 7:50 PM.
Our Picks
Ian Behnke: East Islip Chiefs
Mike Brown: East Islip Chiefs
Travis Quigley: East Islip Chiefs
Brendan Yerkes: East Islip Chiefs
Jack Ziskin: East Islip Chiefs
Analysis
The East Islip Chiefs big three of Thomas Ivers, Ryan Anatra and Anthony Pepe were the league’s top three scorers this past season and this is their last shot at winning a county championship. It’s hard to imagine their run ends in the 1st round of the playoffs. That being said a hot goalie can take you far in the playoffs and with Michael Sittler between the pipes the Ward Melville Patriots have a chance to pull off an upset.
Our Picks
Ian Behnke: St: Anthony’s Friars
Mike Brown: St. Anthony’s Friars
Travis Quigley: St. Anthony’s Friars
Brendan Yerkes: St. Anthony’s Friars
Jack Ziskin: St: Anthony’s Friars
Analysis
It’s Deja Vu all over again. The St. Anthony’s Friars road to the 2022-2023 finals began with a 8-4 victory over the Northport Huntington Tigers. The Friars won 6-1 in their first meeting against the Tigers before winning their second meeting by a final score of 7-3. However the Tigers were without Michael Agafonov in their first game against the Friars and Ryan Collins was out of the lineup in their second meeting of the season. Expect the Tigers to put up a fight, but don’t be surprised if history repeats itself against a Friars squad looking to threepeat.
Our Picks
Ian Behnke: Kings Park Commack Knights
Mike Brown: Kings Park Commack Knights
Travis Quigley: Kings Park Commack Knights
Brendan Yerkes: Connetquot Sayville BBP T-Birds
Jack Ziskin: Kings Park Commack Knights
Analysis
The Kings Park Commack Knights finished as the #3 seed in the SCHSHL and are set to square off with a Connetquot Sayville BBP T-Birds that doesn’t have the word quit in their vocabulary. Last season’s KPC squad, which finished as the #2 seed, couldn’t crack Connetquot Sayville BBP netminder, Matthew Hughes, who made 60 saves in a 1-0 shutout victory. It’s somewhat poetic that the Knights blanked the T-Birds in both wins this season. There’s no doubt that Connetquot Sayville BBP could pull off an upset, however Kings Park Commack has a score to settle and it’s hard to imagine they are satisfied with two regular season victories.
Game Four – The #5 seed Smithtown Hauppauge Bulls v. the #4 seed Sachem on the North Rink at 9:40 PM
Our Picks
Ian Behnke: Smithtown Hauppauge Bulls
Mike Brown: Smithtown Hauppauge Bulls
Brendan Yerkes: Sachem
Travis Quigley: Smithtown Hauppauge Bulls
Jack Ziskin: Smithtown Hauppauge Bulls
Analysis
Jake Citrin blanked Sachem 6-0 when these two teams squared off in the 2022-2023 playoffs and Sachem didn’t forget it. After Sachem won 5-4 in overtime in their first meeting against Smithtown Hauppauge, the Bulls tied Sachem 5-5 in their second game of the season before winning 7-2 in their final meeting of the season. This one is going to be tightly contested, but the Bulls have lost just one game since Mark Dubeau took over as bench boss.
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