Saturday, January 10, 2015 by Aidan Joly
A strong third period, a shutout from goalie Tom Fornabia and a strong performance out of defenseman Cam McCall gave the Blue Streaks hockey team a big win over Bethlehem.
Saratoga defeated the Bethlehem Eagles on Wednesday night at the Weibel Ice Rink by a score of 5-0 behind a three-goal third period.
The Streaks came out strong to begin the game, with a goal from McCall just 42 seconds in, after which they never looked back. This would be McCall’s first of two goals during the evening.
“[I] just played hard, try to get pucks on net as much as possible,” McCall said. “Took care of the puck, just get it out, get it up to our forwards, just try to create opportunities in the offensive zone.”
In the third period, with the Streaks leading 2-0 after a second period goal from Jack Rittenhouse, Saratoga got on the board again 41 seconds into the third with a goal from Tom Pelletier. McCall’s second goal with 6:03 left in the game made it 4-0, then JC Rafferty scored just over three minutes later to make it 5-0.
Saratoga head coach Dave Torres said of the team flexing their muscles in the third period, “We wanted to bang home some rebounds, which we did.”
Saratoga goaltender Tom Fornabia recorded his first career shutout in the win, saving all 19 Bethlehem shots. Eagles goalie Carl Cusak had 28 saves during the game.
“It was big for Tom Fornabia, with his first career shutout, he played really well back there,” said Torres. “Their goaltender, again, played outstanding against us, he usually does.”
Jack Rittenhouse recorded two points on a goal and an assist.
“I just have to give it up to my teammates, we played nice and scored a lot,” Rittenhouse said.
There were 11 penalties over the course of the game, eight of them by Bethlehem. Saratoga capitalized on these, scoring three of their goals during power plays.
“We knew that if we played a man up, it would be in our benefit,” Torres said of the power play opportunities during the game.
After the win, the Streaks are now 8-2-1 on the season, having recorded 17 points this year. They will be back home Sunday taking on Pelham at Weibel at 3:00 p.m.
SCORING
Saratoga:
Cam McCall – 2 goals
Jack Rittenhouse – 1 goal, 1 assist
Tom Pelletier – 1 goal
JC Rafferty – 1 goal
Josh Dagle – 1 assist
Jon Frey – 1 assist
Jake Fauler – 1 assist
GOALTENDING
Saratoga (Tom Fornabia): 19 saves, 1.000 saved
Bethlehem (Carl Cusak): 28 saves, 5 allowed, 0.848 saved