February 4, 2014 by Justin Penman and Eli Fisher
As the Blue Streaks boys basketball team was across town beginning a game they would ultimately lose to Shaker, the hockey team was on their way to their second win in a row, against Queensbury by a 6-1 margin, on Friday night. The weekend before that, they ended a three-game losing streak with a 5-0 road win against Niskayuna/Schenectady in which goalie Zack Jones ’14 played the whole game with 22 saves. Jones has played in seven games this season, four of which he played the entire game, for an overall 89% save rate, topping the other three Saratoga goalies.
Even with these wins, though, Saratoga (9-5-3) still lags behind the section-topping Shenendehowa team (11-5-1), who they tied 3-3 in December and will play on Wednesday (snow date Thursday) in the Blue Streaks’ final home game of the season.
“I think we could be in better position right now,” said Saratoga head coach Dave Torres. “We’ve had some letdowns. We had some ties we probably should have won. But we learned from every tie, and we moved on.”
Blue streaks forward Cam McCall ’15 said of the Queensbury game, “We played awesome team defense, didn’t let up at shot in the first period, we shot the puck and got great chances.” He assisted Jack Rittenhouse ’15’s third-period goal during the game. “Also, we communicated really well, we were talking all the time,” McCall added.
Queensbury definitely came back strong in the third period, as starting goalie Danny Hobbs ’16 saw only four shots in the first two periods, but was replaced by Ryan Paton ’14 in the final period, during which Queensbury peppered Paton with seven shots. He saved all but one, a blue-line shot from Queensbury’s Ricky Conklin ’15.
After the lone first period goal, scored by Jake Fauler ’17 on power play, which Fauler called “all luck,” the Streaks posted two more midway through the second period, the first by Fauler assisted by Grayson Rieder ’14 and the second by JT Rafferty ’15.
“Isaac [Fisher ’14, Saratoga defenseman,] dumped the puck in and Fauler flew by the d[efense], I saw him and slowed my speed. He came around the net and hit me with a pass that went five-hole,” said Rafferty, who remains the team’s leading scorer, describing his goal.
“We had great teamwork and everybody contributed,” said Torres of the Queensbury game.
In the Niskayuna game, Rafferty and Drew Patterson ’14 both netted two goals, while Grayson Rieder ’14 had one. Brendan Coffey ’16 and Rieder each assisted on two scores while Elliott Hungerford ’16 and Jones were both credited with one assist.
“We’re looking forward to playing them. It should be a good show. I’m sure my boys will bring their best,” said Torres of the Shenendehowa game, which is also Senior Night for the Blue Streaks.
Box scores with stats
Niskayuna (Jan. 24)
Queensbury (Jan. 31)
Saratogian coverage
Niskayuna (Jan. 24)
Queensbury (Jan. 31)
Saratoga Wire coverage
Queensbury (Jan. 31)
