AKWESASNE, ONT – The bad blood between the Thousand Island Privateers and Akwesasne Warriors made for a great story line prior to game one of the teams’ best-of-three FHL Commissioner’s Cup playoff series at the Anowarako:wa Arena Friday night. The game itself made for an even better one.
Warriors’ forward Dan Tessier scored his second goal of the game 1:34 into the first overtime period to give Akwesasne a thrilling 4-3 victory and a 1-0 lead in the series. Game two is set for Saturday night at the Bonnie Castle Recreational Center in Alexandria Bay, NY with a potential game three scheduled for Sunday in upstate New York.
The game-winning, power play goal came off of a defensive zone clear out by the visiting Privateers. Jeremy Van Hoof collected the puck in the neutral zone and fed Tessier. Tessier tore into the Thousand Islands end, splitting a pair of Thousand Island defenders before whipping a hard wrist shot past Privateers netminder Peter Dundovich to end the contest.
Given the animosity between the two teams that has risen over the past month, most of the 482 fans in attendance expected a rugged and wild affair. Instead they got a contest that was more about winning than fighting.
The first period was up and down hockey with plenty of shooting as the teams combined for 34 shots on net. The Privateers opened the scoring just 2:35 into the contest when Jeremy Akeson and Adam McAllister combined to set up Brad Smulders who put the puck past Warriors goalie Alexandre Vincent. Akwesasne responded quickly as Ahmed Mahfouz took a pass from Kris McCarthy and beat Dundovich at the 4:13 mark to tie the score. The goalies kept things under control until the 15:20 mark when former Warrior Miguel Delisle found a way to beat former teammate Vincent, giving Thousand Islands a 2-1 lead that it held into the first intermission.
Dundovich and Vincent controlled most of the middle stanza, matching save for save well past the midpoint of the period. Then with just over five minutes left before the break, Alain Quenneville, who was a member of the 2011 FHL champion Warriors squad, found the back of the net behind Vincent to put the Privateers up by two. It looked like Akwesasne would be down by two heading to the third but Tessier, with some help from Pierre Dagenais and Sylvain Deschatelets, scored with just one second left to make it a 3-2 contest.
Things could have gotten worse for the Warriors in the third period when defenseman Carter Trevisani took a five-minute elbowing major, giving Thousand Island an extended power play. Vincent and the Akwesasne penalty killers were able to hold the fort and keep their team in the game. The Warriors ramped up the pressure and were able to tie the game with less than five minutes left when Tessier and Dagenais combined to set up Deschatelets for the equalizing tally. Akwesasne continued to fight for the game-winner in regulation but Dundovich stood his ground, allowing just the one goal on 16 third period Warriors shots to send the game to overtime.
In the overtime, Thousand Islands captain Paul Kelly took a roughing penalty just 1:04 into the extra period, setting up the Warriors with a man advantage. It was on that power play that Tessier became the hero and gave his team a chance to sweep the series on the road.
Game Notes: Kelly received an abuse of officials game misconduct after coming out of the penalty box following Tessier’s winning score. Both he and Akwesasne’s Trevisani, who got a game misconduct with the elbowing major in the third period, could face supplemental discipline from the league prior to game two…For the game, Akwesasne out-shot Thousand Islands 55-37…Warriors’ goalie Vincent made 34 saves to earn the victory while the Privateers’ Dundovich stopped 51 shots in the loss…Akwesasne went 1-for-six on the power play while Thousand Islands went 0-for-2.
Contact the author at don.money@prohockeynews.com
