By Dave Diamond
The Pride ice hockey club played Santa Claus Saturday night and delivered Metropolitan Collegiate Hockey Conference (MCHC) rival SUNY Farmingdale a Christmas carol to the tune of 10 goals.
In a battle for first place in the Island Region, the Pride out-played the Rams in every aspect en route to a 10-3 win on home Long Beach Arena ice, securing sole possession of first heading into the inter-session.
"It's a big win," captain Matt Orenstein said. "We needed this game and I'm glad we went out there and took it."
The Pride scored four power play goals, its best effort on special teams all season. However, the power play goals proved to be minor details as the Pride pounced on Farmingdale immediately.
Wasting no time in avenging a shoot-out loss to the Rams Nov. 20, leading goal scorer Rob Gleckler struck just 19 seconds into the game. Gleckler took a feed from Orenstein, who was sent in on a rush on a crisp pass from defensemen Elvis Svoboda. Only 1:20 later, the Pride took a 2-0 lead on an unassisted goal from Ryan Drudy, signaling the rout was on.
Farmingdale did manage to grab a goal midway through the opening period, but 2-1 would be as close as the Rams could get. Steve Wagner and new front-liner Rich Hackford tallied goals to end the first period for a 4-1 Pride lead.
"This was huge for us tonight, coming out and laying a big number on them," head coach Brian Ferrara said. "We needed a big effort from all of our players and that's exactly what we got."
The second period belonged to Pride forward Joe Balabous, who used the middle frame as his own personal highlight show. Balabous scored twice, giving the Pride an eventual 6-2 lead to begin the third period, when the Rams began to show a little frustration.
The Rams took offense to the Pride pouring it on in the third period. Their frustration grew further as Farmingdale could not solve Pride goaltender George Lorenz, who continued his outstanding junior season.
"George stood on his head, as they did manage to put together some offensive flurries. He made three or four saves in a row at some points; he's definitely been our first half MVP," Ferrara said.
As a result, the Rams began to throw their weight around a lot more, and most of the time illegally. As tempers flared, Farmingdale took two five-minute major penalties, both resulting in players getting ejected.
"We didn't retaliate at all," Ferrara said proudly, and it cost Farmingdale man-power, something they can't afford with a number of their players ineligible for youth hockey, unbeknownst to the league until recently.
Nevertheless, Lorenz and the Pride skated to their second straight 10-goal game, as the Pride shut-out New Jersey Institute of Technology, 10-0, last weekend. This clutch win with first place on the line capped another successful weekend for the club, especially with the playoffs looming once the schedule resumes in late January.
"Hopefully the guys will stay on the ice over the break and carry this momentum to the second half," Ferrara said.