BROOKLYN, NY – It took almost 45 minutes to get on the board but once they did, the Akwesasne Warriors went on a rampage, racking up six goals in the third period to claim a 6-4 win over the New York Aviators in game two of the Federal Hockey League championship series Sunday night. Akwesasne now leads the best-of-five series two games to none heading back to the Turtle Dome on Cornwall Island looking to sweep the series with a win in game three Friday night.
The stunning onslaught was paced by the Warriors’ duo of Ahmed Mahfouz and Pierre Dagenais, who each netted a hat trick during the wild final period that
Akwesasne forward Ahmed Mahfouz scored three goals and added an assist to lead the Warriors to a game two win. (Photo courtesy of FHL)
Following a hard-fought game one less than 24 hours before, play in the first stanza of game two was physical but the hits were clean and the penalties few as both teams tried to stay out of the penalty box. Shots on net were at a premium as the squads combined for a total of five in the first eight minutes.
New York opened the scoring at the 8:39 mark when Michael Thomson picked up his league-leading 12th assist by feeding Felten who beat Warriors’ net minder David Plouffe for his fifth post-season goal. A late penalty to the Aviators’ Casey Mignone gave Akwesasne a power play but New York goalie Kevin Druce and his mates kept the Warriors off the board through the end of the period.
Despite being blanked in the first period, Akwesasne head coach Angelo Sanseverino was encouraged by his team’s play.
“They worked us and we worked them,” he said. “I thought we carried the game in the first ten minutes but we kept getting bounces.”
Despite the threat of giving up power play opportunities, tensions began to rise quickly in the second period with the Warriors going to the penalty box five times and the Aviators making four trips. Several of the call were for delay of game as scrums after whistles became the norm. In the midst of all the penalties, New York doubled its lead when John Goffredo made an adroit pass to Felten who flicked the puck past Plouffe at the 10:41 mark. The score stayed that way into the intermission.
Aviators’ head coach Rob Miller talked to his team in the locker room between periods and suggested that if they continued to play as they had over the first 40 minutes, they would walk away with the win.
“If we can limit their opportunities, then we can hold them scoreless for awhile and they are going to lay dormant,” Miller told his players.
The strategy worked well for the first five minutes of the third period but then in the blink of an eye, it fell to pieces.
Akwesasne’s first strike came in a span of 17 seconds. It began at the 4:35 mark when Mahfouz scored his first of the period with the assists going to Daniel Sauve and Martin Beaulne. Seconds later, Dan Tessier set up Dagenais to tie the score.
Miller said after the game that he knew his team was in trouble following that short 17-second sequence.
“We gave them life with that (first) goal,” he said. “They score in bunches. That third goal was a killer.”
Sensing they had the Aviators on the ropes, the Warriors continued to carry the play. At the 7:48 mark, Mahfouz put Akwesasne in front for good off of an assist from Patrick Deraspe. That was followed 25 seconds later by Dagenais’ second of the period assisted by Miguel Delisle and Tessier. In the space of 8:13, the Warriors had gone from down two to up two. Mahfouz then completed his hat trick at 9:49 with the helpers going to Carter Trevisani and goalie Plouffe.
Miller replaced Druce after the fifth goal with backup Peter Dundovich in an attempt to light a fire under his team. The Aviators couldn’t afford to give the Warriors any man advantage opportunities and succeeded in doing so. Akwesasne was not so lucky as Joshua Desmarais took a holding penalty and New York capitalized when KC Timmons and Matt Puntureri combined to set up Thomson for a power play goal at 11:27 that cut the lead to 5-3.
The game was still in question until Dagenais followed Thomson’s tally with his hat trick goal at the 12:12 mark to restore the Warriors’ three-goal lead. Akwesasne’s sixth goal of the period took much of the starch out of the Aviators but the home team kept fighting, getting a goal by Andrew Scampoli in the final minute but it was too little, too late to change anything but the final score.
Even though his team has what looks to be a commanding lead in the series and heading home, Sanseverino said that he is not ready to guarantee a sweep because he sees the two teams as being equal. He still believes that discipline will be a major key to finishing off the series.
“We would like to wrap it up in three but I don’t want to make any predictions. On any given night, one of our players or one of their players is going to step it up and play. For us, it has been two games in a row,” he said. “We need to stay out of the box and play disciplined hockey.”
In the other locker room, Miller said that avoiding a sweep will be a priority and that the first steps to that will be playing a 60-minute game as well as summoning up the heart and mental toughness the Aviators need to overcome their relative lack of championship experience.
“We played a 40-minute game today and a 40-minute game yesterday (Saturday),” he said. “It comes down to effort and determination. Show me why I should take you back next season.”
Game Notes: Attendance for game two at the Aviator Sports and Recreation Complex was announced at 627…In recording his second finals victory, Plouffe stopped 24 of the 28 shots he faced while Druce made 19 saves on the 24 shots he saw while in net. Dundovich made three saves on four shots in his cleanup role…Mahfouz recorded five shots on net in scoring his three goals. He also added an assist for a four-point game. Teammate Dagenais’ three goals upped his two-game totals to four goals and one assist with a plus-4 rating…New York’s Thomson moved into a tie with teammate Puntureri for the FHL post-season scoring lead. Both players now have 14 points with 13 of Thomson’s coming on assists…Akwesasne went 0-for-3 with the man advantage while New York was 1-for-5.
Contact the author at susan.erichensen@prohockeynews.com
