This is our third season covering this season opener between Taft and Salisbury; and despite the score this was the best Taft team we have seen. Both coaches after the game complimented each others teams and spoke to how great of a test this was early in the season for their teams.
“Salisbury is a disciplined, professional-like team,” said Taft Coach Ryan Shannon. “We can learn from them and from this game and continue to battle. I was really proud of our compete tonight and how we were confident coming in after the St. Paul’s jamboree.”
The first period was a back and forth tight game. Taft opened the scoring at the 13:19 mark when Christian Jimenez stripped the puck from a Salisbury forward, took the puck in deep behind the net and fed the slot to Finn Walker who burried it 5-hole past Jared Levine.
Salisbury responded less than 30 seconds later when Bayard Hall capitalized on a broken play with the goalie out of the net to bang home an empty netter to even the game.
The rest of the period was back and forth without either team really taking control until a late offensive zone faceoff with 30 seconds remaining in the period when Salisbury had some sustained pressure but two shot blocks from Taft junior Tristan Fasig would keep the game even going into the second.
The second period started with both teams exchanging power play chances but neither we able to capitalize. As the period went on Taft gained some momentum and had a few grade A chances including a goal that was ruled against because the Taft forward kicked it in. With 5 minutes remaining Salisbury broke for a 2v0 breakaway in the neutral zone but was hauled down by Taft senior defender Peter Kenerson which saved a goal. However, Salisbury capitalized on the power play when Lucas Mercuri and Michael Cameron worked the puck down low and then kicked it out to the point for Luke Krys who kept his head up, saw a lane and fired a hard, accurate stick side goal from the point to take the lead. The Knights went to the locker room up 2-1 to end the second with a power play off a boarding penalty from Taft junior Justin Humenay.
The Knights depth took over in the third and they extended their lead on the first shift when junior forward Matt Coronato carried the puck deep in the zone and set up the power play. Luke Krys answered the bell yet again with a hard shot in the slot. He almost scored again to complete the hattrick at the 11:20 mark on a snap shot off the crossbar but 20 seconds later Cole Vallese had a quick release backhand off the goalies helmet which was rebounded on a quick 5-hole stuff to extend the lead 4-1. That was not the end of the Knights whose depth and consistent pressure became too much for Taft and Jake Quillan scored on a catch and shoot in the slot off a great pass from the corner on a tic-tac-toe play.
While Salisbury was putting on the pressure; Taft had no quit and Ryan Colwell scored a nice quick release snap shot from the top of the circles off an offensive zone faceoff with 3:24 remaining in the game.
“This was a great test for our team,” said Salisbury Coach Andrew Will who has 4 Prep titles to his name. “We are younger this year and have a lot of guys playing meaningful minutes who are new to prep and this was great for them. I thought we were slow to get started, played too passive through the first half but settled into our game as time went on. Our goalie (Levine) kept us calm and composed and I thought we learned a lot tonight about what it takes to win in this league.”
NZ’s Take: This was a good game despite the score. Salisbury is a very deep team, especially up front and the longer the game goes on the greater their advantage becomes. With that being said, Taft has some talent, including under the radar prospect Andrew Ebersol who is a legitimate NCAA D1 prospect and was one of the best players on the ice tonight. We were also impressed with the physicality and compete from Tristan Fasig blocking shots and finishing checks and the improvement of Bobby Barrasso, particularly in his skating ability. Billy Dobensky and Jimenez are highly skilled and can make plays all over the ice and Colwell and Tonelli were also impressive in their season debut.
For Salisbury they have an abundance of talent so it would be hard to pick out on a few as there were at least 10 standouts tonight, but Luke Krys would get our game puck and Jarod Crespo and Cole Vallese are special talents.
Three Stars of the Game:
1st Star: Luke Krys, Salisbury
2nd Star: Matt Coronato, Salisbury
3rd Star: Christian Jimenez, Taft