Now that winter vacation is behind us, the run to the playoffs has begun with a busy schedule for the TABC Storm varsity hockey team. On Wednesday night, February 2, TABC hosted MTA at the Weather Center. MTA was in the middle of a strong run, with a string of consecutive wins, including a big win against Frisch, but TABC was determined to stop them. TABC came out strong out of the gate, scoring just 18 seconds into the game, with a speedy goal by Joey Zelig, assisted by AJ Seplowitz. The Storm continued their dominating play in the first period with two more goals by Seplowitz and Ryan Brandwein. The first period ended with TABC up 3-0.
However, MTA would not go down easy. They fought hard in the second period and scored two goals to make the game an exciting 3-2 matchup. It was now TABC’s turn to put the game away, with a beautiful wrist shot by Yehuda Wiener, followed by Seplowitz’s second goal of the night, bringing the score at the end of the second period to 5-2. Eitan Adler brought home the final goal of the night in the third period and the Storm defeated the MTA Lions 6-2. It was a full team effort and win by TABC, as they saw strong defensive performances from Jordan Rieder and Zachary Gibber, among others, along with stellar goaltending by Chaim Mermelstein.
A few days later, the varsity hockey team had their annual shabbaton, which included participation by parents of team members; and on Sunday they hosted the Kushner Cobras. After an 8-0 victory by the JV Storm hockey team against Kushner, the varsity game would prove to be much more challenging for the Storm. Deep into the first period Kushner scored two goals and the first period ended with TABC Storm down 2-0. But the Storm played as a team, fought hard and never gave up. They scored three unanswered goals over the next two periods to win a come from behind thriller. Adler scored the first two goals off of rebounds, and Gibber scored the game winning goal on a strong wrist shot from the point, halfway through the third period. The final score put TABC on top 3-2, bringing the varsity Storm’s record to 9-1 on the season.
By Joe Mermelstein
