When Rye Country Day defeated St. Luke’s on the Harvey School ice February 22, it marked the third Fairchester Athletic Association title in a row for the boys from Rye. For the story, we turned to Head Coach Erik Kallio.
By Mitch Silver
When Rye Country Day defeated St. Luke’s on the Harvey School ice February 22, it marked the third Fairchester Athletic Association title in a row for the boys from Rye. For the story, we turned to Head Coach Erik Kallio.
“Number-two seed St Luke’s came out very hard, finishing every check and setting a very physical style for the game. We netted the first goal, but it was disallowed when the refs controversially ruled goaltender interference.
“We got on the scoreboard for real when Jeffrey Chen fed Kyle Halloran for the goal with 9:09 left in the first period. But we gave it right back with a couple of defensive mistakes. St Luke’s capitalized, and we were down 2-1 going into the first intermission.”
St. Luke’s came into the final flying, having demolished 3rd-seeded King 12-2 two nights earlier. Still, Rye Country Day took the ice as the top seed, skating past No. 4 Hamden Hall 6-2 in the other semifinal. The Coach reminded his charges they were the defending champs and to keep on digging.
Kallio continued with the play by play: “I’m happy to say Rye Country Day came out much stronger in the second period, and we started to control the game. Kyle Halloran got us even quickly with his second goal at 1:48 of the period, assisted by to Serafim Rocco and Alex Berger. After each team missed a couple of great scoring chances, our boys got the go-ahead goal with 6:29 left. This time Halloran fed Rocco on a short-handed goal off a 2-on-1.
“The third period had some great up-and-down-the-ice action with strong saves from both goaltenders. We extended our lead with 3:53 left in the game when Kyle’s brother Will picked the top corner on a 2-on-1 rush.
“We took a late penalty, giving St Luke’s a chance to pull their goalie for a 6-on-4 advantage. Sure enough, they scored with 54 seconds left to make it 5-3. After a late flurry from St Luke’s that saw Kyle Halloran block two consecutive shots, Will Halloran sealed the win with an empty netter with two seconds left to play!”
The 11-9-2 Wildcats ended their campaign with a hard-won championship ring. They’re starting to run out of fingers.
