Another week, another 19-17 game! And again, if you are a fan of defense, turn away now . . . Park Vista took 37 shots and hit the net 31 times.  PBC took 34 shots and hit the net 23 times. Ouch. If you are a goalie. It really was a fun game to watch.  A close first quarter followed by an 8-3 PV second, then a 5-1 PBC third and a TWELVE GOAL fourth quarter where PV scored the winning goal with 1:00 on the clock.  PB Central fighting all the way back from a 6-goal third quarter deficit to pull even three times in the fourth but Park Vista was able to respond each time. My type of game. Two groups of kids that worked hard and made the best of their efforts.  PV had the better talent and PBC hustled their butts off to try to overcome them with a very young team. And two coaches that made me feel right at home. Literally, not just figuratively. Two ex Long Islanders . . . one definitely an Isles fan and one I forgot to ask. Both in my relative age group (just mention OBI and they know it, didn’t ask about Rum Bottoms . . . ) and both in it for the right reason, because they like it and they like to work with kids.  Bill Allen of Palm Beach Central and Vinnie Mastro of Park Vista. Their programs don’t get a lot of coverage and they entered the game a combined 6-15 on the season. So what. Still put on a heck of a game. Kids, I hope you get where you want in life and keep playing the game as long as you can.  And thanks for last night’s barn-burner.     The two teams went back and forth in the first quarter.  PV jumped out early with two goals in the first two minutes.  Tyler Hyland scored the first just 46 seconds into the game as he curled out from behind the net on the left, split two defenders and scored from right in front and followed that up at 10:27 as he made a similar curl to beat his defender to the front and PV quickly led 2-0.  At 6:25 PBC got one back as Austin Cavallo picked up a loose ball on the right alley, turned left and finished with the left hand between PV goalie Austin Pomianowski’s legs for 2-1.  PV responded at 5:01 as Ryan Bloom worked his way from right GLE up the wing and finished with the left hand to the far side.  PBC responded twice to even it at 3.  Just 13 seconds after the PV goal Cavallo went middle from the right wing with a face dodge and his left hand found the high short side and at 4:02 he tied it off a Matt Liermann feed from right GLE and he finished alone in front.  But just 22 seconds later John Kennedy took advantage of a turnover on the goalie ride and finished into the open net to make it 4-3 PV after one.  

  The goal trading continued for the first 3-plus minutes of the second to make it 5-5 until Park Vista went on a 7-1 run to make it 12-6 at the half.  At 10:32 Tyler Thomasson took advantage of an EMO to fire the first of his many up top step downs and hit the net low from 12 yards out to make it 4-4.  PV regained the lead at 9:15 as Kennedy took a behind the net feed from Bloom cutting down the right side and he easily finished for 5-4 only to again relinquish the lead at 8:24 as Cole Zimmer took a right wing Cavallo feed as he was cutting down the middle and Zimmer bounced it in just under the crossbar for 5-5.  but Park Vista then went on the run mentioned above: 7:17 – long stick Rayvon Romero passed to Timmy D’Antuono on the right wing and he hit the low left hand corner 6:10 – Bloom unassisted, cutting to the middle from the right wing, hitting left hand low and just scoring as PBC goalie Tyler Rosenbaum got a piece but not enough. 4:50 – Kennedy unassisted as he took advantage of a turnover on the ride to score all alone right in front. 4:14 – Hyland unassisted as he curled from the left to the alley and finished with a jump shot in the high short side And it was 9-5 that quickly. At 2:54 PBC stopped the bleeding momentarily as Cavallo took a crease feed from Liermann at left GLE and went low while falling for 9-6 But then PV went another three goal run to end the half up 12-6 and it was looking like PV was going to put this one away early.  At 2:50 Brandon Bechtel popped forward a faceoff, went down the right alley and hit the low left corner.  Then at 1:55 Nick Caterina stepped down on the left wing and hit the right side of the cage.  Then with one second left in the half D’Antuono took a behind the net feed from long pole Joey Augello on the crease and he quick-sticked it in just before the horn.  

  The third quarter opened quietly as the teams traded a goal each to keep the lead at 6 until about three minutes remained in the quarter but then you could almost feel PV letting up some and PBC jumped at the opportunity, scoring 4 goals in the last 3:07 of the third to cut the lead to 13-11 heading into the fourth.  Cavallo and Bloom swapped unassisted goals, with Cavallo at 9:00 as he curled from the left side to the left alley and got off a one-hand shot that hit the top left corner and at 7:37 Bloom cut to the middle from the top left wing and found the right side, hip high from 10 yards out. But them Thomasson took over with a series of outside shots from up top and Cavallo added one during the run.  At 3:07 Thomasson took a left wing feed from Kevin Hagerty and stepped down from up top and hit the net low.  19 seconds later he took a David Mendoza feed in the same spot and hit the same place for 13-9.  At 1:01, on EMO Mendoza fed Cavallo on the right crease from the right wing and Cavallo hit the high short side and at :46 Thomasson did it again, with the same shot from the same up top location and we went to the fourth with a ball game.     At 11:16 PV stretched the lead back to three as Bloom took advantage of an early PBC penalty . . . taking a skip pass from the top left on the right wing and he hit the low left corner for 14-11.  But then PBC responded with a three-goal run to tie the game at 14.  Cavallo scored his seventh unassisted as he face dodged from the right wing to the middle before going left-handed to the far side at 9:59.  Hagerty cut the lead to one at 8:37 on the fast break as he took a left wing feed from Cavallo up top and hit the top right corner and at 6:39 the game was tied for the first time since 5-5 as Thomasson stole an outlet pass in front and easily finished to set up the rest of the game. 25 seconds later PV regained the lead as Kegan Tran cut from the middle down the right alley and found the low left corner with the right hand and at 5:05 PV ran a picture perfect 3-2 fast break, taking advantage of the slides to find Hyland at the left crease from Kennedy and he hit the short side for 16-14.  But PB got both of those back quickly as Cavallo scored on EMO at 4:31, taking Mendoza’s top left feed on the left wing and hit the top left corner while also drawing another flag and at 4:03 we weer tied again as Thomasson got free up top from Cavallo’s right wing feed and he again stepped down from 15 yards and found the net, this time bouncing one in the high right corner. So here we are again, tied at 16 going into the last two minutes.  PV took the lead back at 1:53 as Grayson Northrup picked off a lengthy clearing pass near the mid-line, broke down the wing and went to the middle before bouncing one in to the top left corner for 17-16.  Just 16 seconds later Cavallo responded with his NINTH goal as the faceoff scramble eventually pushed the ball to him in the restraining area and darted to the middle before finding the low right corner to tie it again at 17.  But PV was able to respond with the eventual game winner as Northrup cut down the middle, taking a behind the net feed from Andrew Rose and hit the low left corner .  Then PV was able to win the final faceoff and was able to kill most of the remaining time and when PBC’s defense broke down Bloom was able to finish off the game with a run down the middle before finishing to the mid right side of the net to finally end it with 11 seconds on the clock. Hot tub anyone? Great game, great efforts . . . thanks again! Park Vista is back in action on Friday as they host a red-hot Pine Crest team and Palm Beach Central is on the road Thursday as they play W.T. Dwyer.       Team Statistics   Faceoffs:  PV 24-14 Shots:  PV 37 – PBC 34 Shots on Goal:  PV 31 – PBC 23 Turnovers:  PV 23 – PBC 22 Penalties:  PV 5 – PBC 3   Individual Statistics   PV   (likely have a few wrong due to the numbers issue I keep having . . . sorry for those that I have wrong – send in your corrections!) Ryan Bloom 5G/1A Tyler Hyland  4G John Kennedy  3G/1A Grayson Northrup  2G/1A Timmy D’Antuono  2G Brandon Bechtel, Nick Caterina and Kegan Tran  1G each Joey Augello, Andrew Rose and Rayvon Romero  1A each   PBC Austin Cavallo  9G/3A Tyler Thomasson  6G Kevin Hagerty  1G/1A Cole Zimmer  1G David Mendoza  3A Matt Liermann  2A   Tyler Rosenbaum made 12 saves for PBC and Austin Pomianowski made 6 saves for PV   Thanks to Coach Allen and Coach Mastro for talking to me before and after the game!