Huge Third Period Comeback Against Rivers

The New Hampton Huskies ended their holiday break early, traveling to Buffalo, NY to compete in the Belmont Hill/Nichols Holiday Tournament. The Huskies were able to get in a short thirty minute practice in yesterday, December 27th, to try and get the rust off before taking on Rivers School this morning in their first game of the tournament. During the first period, New Hampton continued to shake the rust off, playing a little sloppy at times, but still able to come away tied at zero after the period. The second period did not start out the way the Huskies would have hoped, giving up two goals in the first five minutes. The next five to six minutes, New Hampton was in penalty trouble, but played strong defensively to remain down by two. The strong defensive effort of the Huskies sparked the offensive. Ryan Mahlmeister scored for New Hampton shortly after the Huskies killed off a couple penalties. Mahlmeister’s goal was created when Greg Peterson rolled out of the corner and passed to a wide open Will Hilfiker at the point. Hilfiker fired a nice low slap-shot on net which was stopped by the Rivers goaltender but rebounded right on Ryan Mahlmeister stick. Mahlmeister made no mistake firing home the rebound. After Mahlmeister’s goal, the Huskies took control of the game, creating multiple chances, but were unable to tie the game before the end of the period. Down a goal to start the third period, New Hampton came out strong looking to tie the game. Despite earning a couple power plays early in the period, the Huskies were unable to capitalize. With five minutes remaining in the game, New Hampton still remained down a goal and took a penalty to put Rivers on the power play. On the power play, Rivers was able to add to their lead with three and a half minutes left to play. The Huskies were not deterred and continued to work hard, looking to score the next goal. With just under two minutes in the game, Jack Ring stole the puck from a Rivers player in the offensive zone and ripped a shot top shelf to bring New Hampton back within one. A minute later, with the goalie pulled, the Huskies found a way to tie the game. Steven Ardagna threw the puck on net, creating a mad scramble in front of the Rivers goaltender. Multiple Huskies had wacks at the puck, before Marcus Joughin was able to jam the puck past the Rivers goaltender. Joughin’s goal with less than a minute remaining sent New Hampton to their second overtime game in as many games. In the first overtime, it looked as if the Huskies had won the game twice, but just missed the net on both opportunities. Still tied after the first five minute overtime, the game went to a second overtime, but this time they would play 3-on-3. It looked as if the game would still be tied after the second overtime, but with less than a minute remaining, Rivers scored to win the game. Despite the loss, New Hampton played strong and showed a lot of heart battling back to score two goals in the final two minutes and tie the game. New Hampton will look to build off their strong comeback at the end of the third period as they get ready to play host school, Nicholas, this evening.