A tie in a high school hockey rivalry game is like a slightly overcooked turkey on Thanksgiving at Aunt Dorothy’s house. It’s dry, you splash a little gravy on it, put some stuffing on the fork, you’ll eat it. But everyone at the table knows it’s not great.
So it was Wednesday night at Playland Ice Casino as long-time hockey rivals Rye and Pelham skated to a 2-2 tie that even overtime couldn’t resolve.
“Pelham’s first goal early in that first period was a bit of a slap in the face for us,” said Rye coach Peter Thomas. “I know this one didn’t turn out exactly how we planned, but I was pretty happy with the way our boys responded the rest of the way.”
Rye sophomore Colin Nigro showed off his slick stick with an equalizing goal for the Garnets with just over six minutes to play in the first period.
Captain Ryan Draddy put Rye ahead 2-1 with 15 minutes remaining, thanks to assists from fellow seniors Jamie Morris and Trevor Dolan. But 10 minutes later, with 4:18 left in the third, Pelham tied the game at 2-2. Even a five-minute overtime extra period couldn’t decide a winner in this one.
The Garnets racked up nine penalties but miraculously managed to escape without allowing a single power play goal.
“We definitely spent too much time in the penalty box tonight,” Thomas said. “We did a great job defending Pelham’s power play, but having to do that takes us out of our offensive flow. We’ll clean that up.”
The Garnets (5-1-1) depart Thursday afternoon for a six-hour bus ride to play two strong upstate teams this weekend: Massena and Canton, two schools located just south of the Canadian border.
