By Dylan Butler
But on Tuesday afternoon at Iceland in New Hyde Park, Mike Brenneis' team looked like a shadow of itself in a 5-2 loss to last-place St. Raymond's in a game much more lopsided than the final score indicated.
“We totally collapsed today,” Brenneis said. “The effort was not acceptable under the standards we based our team on this year. We didn't show up today.”
What had Brenneis scratching his head most after the game was McClancy's lack of fundamentals. Defensively, the Crusaders were caught off-balance and didn't take the body, which led to numerous odd man breaks for St. Raymond's (2-6-1). Offensively, McClancy (4-5) wasn't much better. The Crusaders did not dump the puck deep into the Ravens' zone. When they did get inside St. Raymond's blue line, the Crusaders sent weak shots toward the net and failed to follow up for rebounds.
“There were too many missed chances,” Brenneis said. “It was just a total lack of effort.”
Things went wrong from the opening face-off for McClancy, which was without its best defenseman Chris Knipe, who was out with the flu, as St. Ray's jumped ahead to a 3-0 lead four minutes into the second period.
The Crusaders got within one on Jason Andjelovic's unassisted power-play goal and John Mascetti's goal on a two-on-one break with 4:49 left in the second period. But junior J.P. Vitale closed the door on McClancy with a breakaway goal three minutes later and capped his hat trick with a slap shot along the corner boards with 9:13 remaining in the game.
McClancy returns to action Tuesday against Queens foe St. Francis Prep at Iceland. Game time is 3:15 p.m.
Christ the King 3, St. Edmund's 3. Jakub Kubrak scored twice, including the game-tying goal with one minute left in the third period for the Royals (3-3-2 CHSHL A) Saturday night at Abe Stark Arena on Coney Island. The sophomore defenseman also assisted on Sal Croce's tally in the first period.
Archbishop Stepinac 9, Christ the King 4. Mike Brugess, Bobby Glade, Greg Cutrone and Croce scored for the Royals. Stepinac broke a 4-4 tie midway through the game with five unanswered goals last Thursday at Murray Rink in Yonkers.
Christ the King returns to the ice Saturday night to take on St. Joseph by the Sea at Abe Stark Arena. Face-off is at 9:30 p.m.
