Clarkstown Thrashes Sleepy Hollow in Blowout Win

Playing goalie in hockey is the toughest position in sports outside of quarterbacking a football team.

All eyes are on you. One mess up can cost your team the game, and when your teammates aren’t playing well, it’s up to the netminder to bail out his squad and save the day.

When Sleepy Hollow visited Clarkstown Wednesday night, Legends goalie Adam Pesce was put in an onerous situation as he faced shot after shot after shot. He played very well, but the rest of the roster (obviously tired from being out-manned by what seemed like a 2:1 ratio) couldn’t hold their own, as they fell to the home team 8-0.

The game started off with a flurry by Clarkstown, setting the tone for the rest of the contest. They controlled the puck for almost all of the opening period, but made one mistake that nearly cost them a goal, as a giveaway in the offensive zone led to a breakaway for Sleepy Hollow’s best player, Tommy Farrell. Farrell raced in on goalie Tim Cavanagh, determined to give his squad an early advantage, but Cavanagh won this round, stoning the breakaway attempt, and keeping the game scoreless. Although Clarkstown dominated in the shots on goal department in the 1st period (16-5), they couldn’t break through against Pesce.

The middle frame was dominated by Clarkstown, specifically Steven Marvin and Nick Sassano, who was bumped up from the third line before this game. Just 1:44 in, Marvin got his squad on the board off assists from Sassano and defenseman Eric Menninger. As the period went on, Pesce continued to make sparkling stops, thwarting Coach Willows’s players at every turn. Even after he allowed his second goal of the game (scored by Sassano, assisted by Marvin and Nick Kim), Pesce proceeded to turn back three point-blank tries in a span of one minute to keep his team in it. Sassano would light the lamp a second time with 4:35 remaining in the frame off a beautiful feed from Marvin to make it 3-0 heading into the intermission. 34-9 was the disparity in shots on goal for the first two periods, meaning Pesce’s save percentage was still .911; a marvelous number considering all the high-quality scoring chances that he faced.

The third frame was when it all started to crumble for the Legends. Luke Myers tallied a power play goal off a great pass from Adam Marvin at 3:50, which was followed by Nick Sassano’s third tally of the game, giving him a hat trick. Later in the period, the Marvin brothers had back-to-back markers as Adam tickled the twine at 7:11 and Steven did the same under two minutes later. The coup de gras was a top-self rocket by forward Kyle Ryder, making it 8-0 with 3:37 left.

This was a total team effort by Clarkstown, with twelve different players registering a point, and goalie Tim Cavanagh pitching a shutout. Their next contest will be against Monroe-Woodbury on January 29th.