January 1, 2013 by Eli Fisher Photos by Adam Monroe and Eli Fisher with additional staff reports
Saratoga’s state-championship-defending ice hockey team played their first two home games of the season this weekend at the Don Kauth Memorial Tournament, losing the first on Friday to Mamaroneck by a 4-3 margin and winning Saturday’s game against St Joe’s Collegiate 5-1. The Blue Streaks also won the annual tournament for the first time in three years.
Both of their opponents this weekend proved to be more competitive than the Guilderland/Mohonasen/Scotia team that played the Blue Streaks in their season opener. The Blue Streaks now have a 2-1 record, but have played only one in-league game. Friday’s game was much more physical than the opener yet saw only a single penalty for Saratoga. Every team had a 1-1 tournament record, but Saratoga won three game periods between their two games to win the tournament. On Friday, they also unveiled their championship banner and held a ceremony to honor the tournament’s namesake, a local hockey supporter and father of Olympic hockey player Kathleen Kauth, who was killed in the Sept. 11 attacks.
Friday’s scorers for Saratoga were Grayson Rieder ’14, Josh Dagle ’16, and Drew Patterson ’14; Patterson and Devin Coffey ’14 each had one assist.
In a team where No. 1 goalie has been up in the air, Danny Hobbs ’16 played the whole game Saturday saving an impressive 93 percent of shots. St. Joe’s managed only a single power play goal in the third period.
“His first high school game ever he comes up with a win against the reigning Catholic School champs. That’s big time,” said Head Coach Dave Torres of Hobbs.
Hobbs gave much of the credit to the other defensive players, saying, “The defense really stepped up big. I think that’s what we were missing (Friday) and I thought we really brought that (Saturday).” On the offensive end, the Streaks scored two goals in quick succession at the end of the first period and took two more in the next and one in the third. Saturday’s scorers for Saratoga were Coffey, Rieder, Jake Fauler ’17, JT Rafferty ’15, and Jack Rittenhouse ’15. Elliott Hungerford ’16 had two assists and Rieder, Matt Klingbeil ’14, and Ian Frey ’15 had one each.
The Blue Streaks will play their third home game this Wednesday at 6:45 p.m. against Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake.
Friday
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Saturday
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