2008-2009 UNYCHL CHAMPIONS
BACK TO BACK!!!!!
Le Moyne Wins Its Second Consecutive Championship!
Bob Shattell and his Le Moyne Hockey Club teammates saved their best for last. Shattell's 4 goals and 3 assists and sophomore goalie Eric Manley several top-notch saves were just a few of the highlights of Le Moyne's 8-4 victory over Canton in last nights UNYCHL Championship game. The victory gave the Dolphins their 2nd consecutive championship, and 3rd trip in 3 years to the finals. Dan Deacon had a goal and 3 assists and Zach Ianicello, Justin Cunningham and Chris Sova also scored for Le Moyne. The win capped off an amazing season that saw Le Moyne go 13-3 (including playoffs) overall and 10-0 in league play.
Freshman Zach Ianicello opened the scoring for Le Moyne just 2 minutes into the game. After Eric Manley made an ESPN Top 10 save on a player left all alone in front of the net, Adam Bezek put a picture perfect hit on a Canton player in the offensive zone, causing the puck to come loose to Ianicello, who beat the goalie with a slapper from just above the left face off circle. Bob Shattell notched his first a few minutes later on a pass from Dan Deacon, who was behind the net. Shattell was left untouched in front and snapped a shot off the crossbar and into the net to give Le Moyne a 2-0 lead. That was the score after 1 period. The first period also saw team captain Ricky Vernetti get ejected for fighting. After a Canton player slashed goalie Eric Manley after the whistle Vernetti and the rest of the players on the ice came to their goalies aid. Vernetti squared off with the Canton player and, after a short tussle, was ejected along with his counterpart. "Ricky showed what kind of leader he is. It was his last game ever for Le Moyne, yet he didn't care. He was sticking up for his goalie. That player took a cheap shot at Eric and Ricky took exception. I was never more proud of him" said Head Coach Andy Musto.
Canton scored a little over a minute into the 2nd stanza to cut the lead to 1. But then Shattell notched his second of the game a couple minutes later to make it 3-1 for the Dolphins. A short time later, freshman defenseman Chris Sova took a drop pass from Shattell and snapped a shot past the Canton netminder to give Le Moyne a 4-1 lead. Canton scored to make it 4-2 a minute later, and it seemed as if the game was going to see-saw all the way to the end. But then the lethal duo of Shattell and Deacon struck while the 'Phins were a man down. Eric Manley made a save and Shattell picked up the puck behind the net. He looked up and hit a streaking Deacon with a tape to tape pass at the far blue line. Deacon then did what he has done numerous times this season; pulled away from the defense and put a backhand past the goalie for a 5-2 lead. Eric Manley also got a assist on the play. "That goal really seemed to deflate Canton" said Musto. "They had momentum and a powerplay and that just took the wind out of their sails".
The 3rd period began with Canton putting heavy pressure on the Dolphins. But the defense and Manley's superb play in net, weathered the early storm until the 5:59 mark, when Shattell skated end to end and blasted a slapshot past the Canton goaltender, his 3rd goal of the game, from just inside the blueline for a 6-2 lead. Canton cut the lead to 6-3, but seconds later Justin Cunningham took a lead pass from Shattell and beat the defenseman wide. He broke in a scored to give Le Moyne a 7-3 lead. Canton cut that margin to 7-4 until, with 2 minutes left, Deacon and Shattell struck again. Deacon fired the puck high off the glass and Shattell poked the fluttering puck past the defenseman and went in alone and beat the goalie with a snapshot to give Le Moyne an 8-4 edge. That is the way it ended, and Le Moyne had the Cup. "I am so proud of these guys" said Musto. "It took a long time for this team to come together. We won alot of games because we had more talent. But the last few we had talent AND heart. Thats tough to beat". Musto singled out Shattell for praise; " Shatts never really gets comments from me. Its because he basically does what I expect from him and he does it well and often, so, at times, I don't even notice how special of a player he is. Shatts came to play tonight, as did the rest of the guys. He was just unstoppable. I mean 7 points in a championship game? If that isn't stepping up I don't know what is." He also had praise for other players as well; "all the boys played great tonight. Guys like Keifer Dowd, Zach Ianicello, Adam Bezek and Matt Mahaffy, guys who don't score flashy goals or get the headlines, yet they do all the little things right. And Eric Manley, what can I say. We rode him the whole 2nd half of the season and he proved he could carry the load. And the line of Deacon, Shattell and Cunningham, they are just unstoppable if they are on top of their game. They just are just a game changing line. I think I may start calling them the WMD line because they are Weapons of Mass Destruction" Musto said with a smile. " I also want to give my heartfelt thanks to my Assistant Coaches John Ives and Tim Gearhart. John came in with a new forcheck system that really worked well. And Gear had the unenviable task of running the offense with me always ready to yell at him for, most of the time, no reason other than to yell. Without those guys, and Ryan Raike, we don't win this thing. They are the glue that held us together." And as for next season? "We will have to see. I am not making any decisions now. I want to enjoy this for a while. It's been a long season with alot of ups and downs. John (Ives) and I will talk over the summer and see what happens. But it would be nice to go for 3, and only losing 2 players to graduation and 4 or 5 new players already committed to coming, either way Le Moyne is going to be strong next year. But a three-peat would be fun..." said Musto.
ICE CHIPS: Dan Deacon finished the season with 66 points on the year in just 15 games...Bob Shattell finished with 59 points in 13 games and Justin Cunningham, who went on a scoring tear in the second half of the season, finished with 40 points in 16 games...Ricky Vernetti played his 61st consecutive game for Le Moyne, a team record...Eric Manley started his 8th consecutive game in goal, the most consecutive starts by a goalie since the new coaching staff took over 4 seasons ago...the team scored an amazing 136 goals in the 16 games while only giving up 62 for a differential of 74...
UNYCHL STANDINGS:
unychl.tripod.com/id2.html