On Feb. 17, the Mamaroneck hockey team took the ice against an opponent for the first time in nearly a year, kicking off the 2021 season with a 4-1 victory over New Rochelle. But even though the Tigers weren’t quite as sharp as they would ordinarily be in mid-February, longtime head coach Mike Chiapparelli is hopeful that his squad will be able to overcome an extended layoff and abbreviated preseason and reach their full potential by the time playoffs roll around next month.
Despite the absence of five players—including top star Charlie Dente who missed the opener due to Covid-19 protocols—the Tigers had enough firepower to get past the Huguenots in the opener, thanks to an impressive performance by Mathew Montoni. The sophomore netted the first three goals of the game to give the Tigers a commanding lead heading into the final period of play. Matt Pisani added an insurance goal in the third period before the Huguenots were able to scratch one out against Tiger goalie Jeff Reda when Sean Benko found the net with just over 8 minutes left to play.
Despite the final score, however, the Huguenots were able to generate plenty of chances, outshooting the Tigers 24-22. Many of New Rochelle’s best chances came on the power play, as the Tigers racked up a total of nine penalties during the game, something that Chiapparelli said will need to change as the team moves forward.
“I knew we were going to make a lot of mistakes, and we did, but our biggest mistake was that we were in the penalty box too much,” he said. “I thought Reda did a great job in net, but we put ourselves at a disadvantage with that.”
Overall, Chiapparelli was pleased with the way his team performed, especially given the limited practice time teams were afforded after Section I made the decision to allow “high risk” sports to resume earlier this month. He noted that the Tigers will break down the New Rochelle game-tape via Zoom and discuss areas in which they need to improve, including defensive play in the neutral zone.
“We tried to get our systems in, and we got them in, we just didn’t get to practice them a lot,” he said. “But we knew that was going to happen, now we have to fix it, and using Zoom is an advantage.”
Chiapparelli also noted that he felt his team’s energy levels fade down the stretch, something he chalked up to opening night jitters.
“I think they might have burned themselves out a little bit too much because of the excitement. We didn’t have a lot of legs,” he said. “I’d been skating them pretty hard, so I was a little surprised at that.”
With the loss, the Huguenots (0-1) now look forward to a pair of weekend games against the ETBE Eagles. The Tigers (1-0) are scheduled to take on the reigning Division II champions Rye (0-1) on Feb 19. Rye lost its season-opener on Wednesday night, falling 4-3 to Pelham in overtime.
“I told a lot of the coaches that by playoffs, you’re going to start to see our teams,” he said. “The idea is to start playing well by week four.”
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