ALEXANDRIA BAY, NY – Consistency is a buzz word that coaches use to motivate and inspire their players. Do enough of the right things time after time and the team will succeed.
Friday night at the Bonnie Castle Rec Center, the Akwesasne Warriors did more than enough of what coach Angelo Sanseverino wanted them to do and it worked. Led by the three goal performance of Dan Tessier, the Warriors dispatched the Thousand Islands Privateers form the FHL playoffs with a resounding 10-4 win. Akwesasne won the best-of-five in four games, taking three straight contests after losing game one at home.
The Warriors will now await the winner of the South division series between Danbury and New York that began Friday night.
“We basically just used the same game plan for the last three games,” Sanseverino said. “We just kept it simple.”
Sanseverino said that one of his keys to controlling the high-powered Thousand Islands’ offense was to take advantage of the Privateers in their offensive zone. The Warriors effectively stretched out the Privateers’ ice by consistently inserting a winger outside of their zone. The strategy forced a lot of four-on-four action which became a distinct advantage for Akwesasne.
The winning coach also noted that Thousand Islands was without all-FHL defenseman Michael Byrd, who left the Privateers to sign with the Huntsville Havoc of the SPHL. Byrd’s departure after two games of the series left a huge hole on the blue line for the Privateers that they were never able to fill.
Akwesasne began the offensive onslaught before the first period was five minutes old and fittingly it was Miguel Delisle who kicked it off. Arguably Akwesasne’s most consistent scorer all season, he converted a pass from FHL Rookie of the Year Ahmed Mahfouz at the 4:07 mark. Midway through the stanza, the Warriors broke the game wide open, scoring three goals in a span of 3:35. Tessier started the run at 10:07 followed by Mahfouz scoring his second of the post-season on a power play at 12:37. Darick Ste Marie ended the blitz at the 13:42 mark with a pretty all muscle drive to the net and score to give the visitors a first period four-spot.
Twice during the final part of the period, Thousand Islands coach Mike Elberty took a timeout to try to stem the offensive tide hitting his troops. Down the other end of the ice, Warriors’ net minder David Plouffe was having a relatively easy time, stopping all seven shots he faced to send his team to the intermission up 4-0.
Facing elimination, the Privateers opened the second with an offensive push that led to Alex Goupil’s first of three goals in the game just 1:11 in. Kyle Lagace restored Akwesasne’s four goal lead at the 5:10 mark but just 25 seconds later, Goupil answered with his second of the night, giving the home fans some hope of a comeback.
The Warriors then put the pedal to the floor with three unanswered scores to stretch the lead. Martin Beaulne scored for the second consecutive game before Tessier netted his second and third goals of the game, pushing the margin to 8-2.
After Ryan Pearson’s short-handed goal stemmed the tide for the Privateers, frustrations began to boil over. Thousand Islands’ Evan Romeo squared off with Warriors’ forward Mahfouz after the Privateers’ defenseman slashed his opponent. After the dust settled, both players were ejected from the game, leaving Thousand Islands with just three blue liners, and the Warriors on a five-minute man advantage courtesy of the slashing major assessed to Romeo. Akwesasne cashed in with a power play goal by Terry Watt with just three-tenths of a second left on the clock, giving the Warriors a 9-3 lead heading into the final period.
What could have been a very contentious final stanza turned into an exercise in playing out the string. Beaulne scored his second of the game at the 7:51 mark to extend the lead to 10-4. Goupil, playing in what was most likely his final game, gave the Privateers’ fans one last chance to cheer with his hat trick goal on a power play with 1:32 left to create the final score. As the game went final, the 1,321 who attended the contest gave Goupil and his teammates a well earned ovation as the two teams shook hands to conclude the series.
Game Notes: Akwesasne’s Sauve recorded a league record six assists in the contest while teammates Tessier and Delisle notched four point games. Goupil and Pearson recorded three points each to lead the Privateers…Thousand Islands’ backup goalie Karac Davis saw his first action of the series, playing the final 5:11 of the second period in relief of starter Richard Sillery. He faced four shots, giving up two goals…Plouffe stopped 22 of 26 shots to post his third playoff win for the Warriors.
Contact the author at wendy.hull@prohockeynews.com
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