In the second game on Thursday evening 6th seeded Half Hollow Hills defeated the 11th seeded Firebirds 13-4 as they led in this game from start to finish to move on the second round of the playoffs.
Setting the tone in the first half for Hills was Anthony Raio as the UNC commit and Air Force commit Nico Ghicas who scored back-to-back goals to give Hills the 2-0 lead. Hills would go on to score the first five goals of the game before Kellenberg got on the board, and ultimately Hills headed into halftime with a 7-1 lead. In the second half, Hills continued to maintain control of the game, outscoring the Firebirds 6-3 in the final 20 minutes.
Raio led all players with four goals and also tallied one assist for five points. The face-off X was controlled by Ghicas who was nearly perfect, going 14/15 to help Hills establish a commanding advantage in time of possession. Ryan Chung managed to record four ground balls while also going a perfect 3/3 at the face-off X while also adding a goal, while James Bruno and Daniel Chung each contributed with two points.
The Firebirds offense came from Jake Grimm who scored twice, while scoring one goal each was Navy commit Michael Anzelone and Siena commit Michael Felicetti.
In the second round Hills will be back in action January 7th against Ward Melville at 4:45 in a battle between two Suffolk Class A contenders. The Firebirds move to the consolation bracket where they will take on Syosset on January 11th at 5:45pm.
