Justin Ivey, Correspondent New England Black Wolves
Lacrosse is Awesome©
In a packed arena, the New England Black Wolves (3-0) hosted the New York Riptide (0-3) on Friday night. The 6,089 in attendance were in for a historic night. To kick off the home opener, Todd Angilly, the Boston Bruins anthem singer belted out the nation’s song to a roaring crowd. New York, with four players who called Mohegan Sun Arena home last year, got off to a quick start but New England answered with an 11-0 run spanning the first and second quarters. From there New York could not get back in the game but the Black Wolves kept the heat coming. Reilly O’Connor (6G, 2A) finished with a sock trick, Callum Crawford (5G, 9A) reached 1,000 career points with his fifth goal, and Joe Resetarits (3G, 3A) notched his 400th career point with his first goal of the game. It was a beautiful game all around from the home team and they were rewarded with a big win. Final Score: New York-11, New England-21.
The Riptide struck first as Gail Thorpe (2G, 3A) ripped a shot low past Doug Jamieson from outside just 1:24 in. Connor Kelly (1G, 3A) doubled the lead just over a minute later. Finally, the Black Wolves were able to get on the board as Andrew Kew (3G, 6A) found Resetarits streaking down the middle. He finished with a quick fake and dump for his 400th career regular season point. By the first media timeout at 9:54, the Riptide had a 2-1 lead. The momentum swung, but it took over seven minutes of scoreless lacrosse for the Black Wolves to get the foothold. O’Connor scored with 4:44 remaining to tie the game. Under two minutes later, Kew scored from the top and the flood gates opened. O’Connor scored again with 32 seconds remaining on a power play opportunity followed by a quick goal from Crawford with only four seconds on the clock. At the end of the first quarter, New England led New York 5-2.
New England just kept right on rolling to start the second quarter. It took only 29 seconds for O’Connor to complete his hat trick with a snipe from the outside. Off the next faceoff, a New York penalty for holding the stick gave the Black Wolves their second power play of the game. 15 seconds into the man up, Kew scored from outside on a shot over a teammate. The goal chased Alex Buque from the net after allowing seven goals on 21 shots. Gowah Adams replaced him for his first minutes of the season. Another penalty had Black Wolves goalie Jamieson run off and with the six on five, O’Connor buried his fourth of the game. New York had a few transition opportunities but were plagued by poor passing. Crawford scored his second of the game to put the Black Wolves up 9-2 just 3:40 into the second quarter. Nick Chaykowsky (1G) took it the length of the floor just over three minutes later for a transition goal, and on a New York power play Dereck Downs (1G, 1A) scored a shorthanded goal. With seven minutes remaining in the half, New England held an 11-2 lead. The run stopped at 11 goals, as New York got their third goal, scored by Dan Lomas (2G, 1A), on a beautiful set play on the man up. A goalie interference call on Resetarits with 5:37 left gave New York another opportunity to cut the lead and they found the opening. Tyler Digby (2G, 2A) caught the ball down low, spun on the crease and scored falling forward. Thorpe launched a shot from outside that beat Jamieson just 12 seconds later and the Riptide had life. But the run stopped at three when Stephan Leblanc (1G, 5A) scored with 3:20 remaining. Kieran McArdle (1G) answered to get the Riptide within six again with 2:08 on the clock. With another powerplay opportunity, New York was able to score again as Jean-Luc Chetner (1G, 2A) beat Jamieson low. At the half, New England led New York 12-7.
New England opened the scoring in the second half. Crawford completed his hat trick 2:57 in to extend the lead to six goals. But New York answered with their second three goal run. Tyson Gibson (1G, 4A) scored 4:04 in and just over a minute later, Digby got his second of the game. Andrew Suitor (1G) cut the deficit to three with a transition score just 25 seconds later. O’Connor again had the answer. He caught a pass centered up top and with no hesitation launched a laser. On the next possession, Resetarits scored his second diving through the crease after deking two defenders. O’Connor made it a three-goal run and completed the sock trick with 4:24 remaining. The Riptide got one back before the end of the third as Lomas scored his second. At the end of three quarters, New England led New York 16-11.
New York couldn’t find any grace in the final quarter. The Black Wolves defense locked down and the offense just kept rolling as they put up five unanswered. Crawford scored the first two, and his second gave him his 14th point of the game and his 1000th career point. When asked about it he modestly answered, “Winning is everything. It always is. Especially when you get to my age…this win is a step towards what we want to accomplish. Points are about playing with great players. You play with great players you are going to score points. I don’t think I did anything special.” Resetarits and Kew each notched another to complete their respective hat tricks and Dave Emala (1G) scored with under a minute on the clock to put the game away. Final Score: New York-11, New England-21.
Up Next:
The New England Black Wolves (3-0) enjoy two weeks off before hosting the Philadelphia Wings (0-1) on Rivalry Night Saturday, January 18 at 7:00 PM EST.
The New York Riptide (0-3) host the Saskatchewan Rush (1-1) in their second game of the weekend on Saturday, December 28 at 7:30 PM EST.