The Rye Garnets trailed late, but rallied for an epic comeback win to keep their season alive. Sound familiar?
The Rye Hockey team downed Clarence 3-2 in overtime in the State semifinals on Saturday, March 14, eliminating the Red Devils and advancing to the State championship game later today. The Garnets will look to win their first ever State title, and their electrifying victory over Clarence last night has them playing for said title for just the second time in program history, the first being in 1982, and marks the end of a six-game losing streak in the State semifinal round.
“We had a plan going in and we stuck to it. Even when we went down 2-1 in the second, we didn’t change our game or panic,” Head Coach Pete Thomas told MyRye.com after the win. “We played with tremendous poise throughout and it showed.”
Junior Jack McGill, who started the year in the middle of the defensemen depth chart and worked his way up to a very impactful contributor at forward, secured his signature moment with the overtime winner on a netfront deflection at 4:22 of the extra session. Will Molin and Max Niejadlik earned the assists on the goal. Will Niejadlik promptly tackled McGill in a chaotic celebration, and he was quickly joined by the entire Garnets bench rushing into the dogpile.
Prior to OT, Will Weinman scored a power-play goal with 2:22 remaining in regulation to tie the game. Rye was mere minutes away from being eliminated via a 2-1 loss before the senior captain – an impressive playmaker from the back end, but an infrequent goal scorer – breathed new life into his bench.
Finn Draddy scored the first goal of the game in the first period, which gave the Garnets a 1-0 lead. Fernando Mosquera made 24 stops for his third win of the postseason, the last two of which have required his excellence. Rye fired 41 shots on goal before their 42nd found the back of the net in OT thanks to McGill’s crafty deflection.
The Garnets (18-3-3, 3-1 postseason) have one more game this season, regardless of result. They match up against Section 1’s Byram Hills at 2:00pm today, Sunday 3/15, for a State title. Rye is searching their first ever championship at the highest level. It is widely believed this will mark the first time two opponents from Section 1 meet in the State title game. The Bobcats previously defeated the Garnets 3-2 in OT to win the Section tournament.
