With nine straight wins to end the regular season, Rye hockey (14-5-1) earned the top seed in the Section 1 Division II tournament. The Garnets have a bye and will open with a semifinal matchup on Thursday, Feb. 27 at home against the winner of Pawling (10-8-1) and Byram Hills (8-11).
With a win, Rye would advance to the Section 1 Division II tournament championship March 2 at Brewster.
Among the wins in the Garnets’ current hot streak were back-to-back victories over Scarsdale. The latest, a 5-2 victory Feb. 14 in Yonkers, was the type of game fans have come to expect from Rye. Five different Garnets found the back of the net for Rye: senior Nick Doyle, senior Connor Brady, junior Trevor Dolan, junior Ryan Draddy, and a final goal scored by freshman Max Niejadlik (… or was it?)
As one would expect, both the Raiders (4-13-3) and Garnets played hard for three periods. They are two well-coached teams and programs with a ton of mutual respect for each other. But there was a rare moment of humor in the third period that was worthy of a chuckle.
With Rye on the power play with just under 10 minutes to go, there was an egg-beater pile-up in front of the Scarsdale goal. Lots of commotion, sticks smacking, ice spraying. Suddenly, a goal was awarded to Rye to make it 5-2.
One question: who scored the goal?
In an obvious attempt to influence the official scorekeeper, seniors Tyler McDermott and Dean Kim raced each other back to the Garnets’ bench to be first for the customary team fist bump reserved for whoever scores a goal. For the record, McDermott beat Kim by a whisker back to the bench, but the official scorer did the only reasonable thing: they credited the goal to Niejadlik.
The Garnets’ seven-game win streak began with five games played in 12 days, but between the two latest wins, both against Scarsdale, Rye enjoyed eight days of rest.
RYE 5, SCARSDALE 1 – Eight Rye seniors suited up for a final league game on their home ice Feb. 5.
Junior Jamie Morris got the scoring started in the first period off a delicious dish from Dolan. Morris added a second goal four minutes later, then junior defenseman Will Molin — who typically does his steady defensive work anonymously — smacked a slap shot from the parking lot to make it 3-0 Rye.
Brady and Niejadlik finished off the scoring. Never-panic Rye sophomore goaltender Fernando Mosquera had his usual strong night between the pipes.
“We’re definitely starting to gel,” said coach Pete Thomas. “Earlier this season, our young guys had to learn from our veterans how we wanted to play, and what we needed to do to win games. They’ve stepped up and we’re playing with some quiet confidence right now. I’m happy to get the win tonight for these seniors.”
No player on Rye’s team embodies the tenacity and commitment to doing the things that don’t show up on stat sheets better than McDermott. Every single shift, no matter the score, he chases down pucks as if the little rubber biscuit belongs to him. On Senior Night, or any night, he’s a joy to watch.
