On Sunday December 10th at Stony Brook Indoor Complex, Smithtown West used a commanding second half to defeat Express 2027 by a score of 12-9. The win gave Smithtown West their first victory in the final week of pool play for these two teams.
The first half saw Express with the edge as they got off to a strong start, looking to pull off the upset. Holding a 3-2 lead on the scoreboard in the closing minutes of the first half, they got consecutive goals from Nick Haugen on an assist by Brendan Sim, and Roy Testa which gave them a 5-2 halftime lead. The three goal advantage was the largest lead of the game for Express.
In the second half Smithtown West was able to flip the script and it started at the face-off X with Towson commit Necco Cottage who went into full take-over mode. The Bulls came out with two quick goals to cut the deficit to one, and added third by Dylan Frank’s garbage goal on the rebound to tie the game at 5-5. The run continued for Smithtown West as Liam Byrne gave them a 6-5 lead and the Bulls didn’t look back as they held the lead for good to secure the win.
Smithown West got a standout performance from Cottage who ended the night 15/16 at the face-off X along with one goal and two assists. Also playing a big role in the win was Tom Hyland the Indiana commit, Eric Kowalski, and Carmelo Pace the Hopkins commit who each scored two goals. Liam Byrne also added three points with a goal and two assists, and Patrick Hyland had one goal and two ground balls.
For Express who held their own against the elder Bulls got key games from Nick Haugen who had a hat-trick, as well as two goals each from Roy Testa and Gavin Snyder. Brendan Sim added two assists. The goaltending for Express saw Jake Collins play the entirety of the game where he tallied eight saves on the evening.
Smithtown West finished pool play at 1-2 and Express ended with a record of 0-3. These two teams are back in action in January for the start of the playoffs with matchups to be determined.
