Last week at the JEC, one of the greatest rivalries in yeshiva hockey played out as the RTMA junior varsity Thunder played host to their close division and geographic rivals the Kushner Cobras in a game for territorial bragging rights. With both teams coming off of lopsided losses and looking to regain winning momentum all those in attendance knew they were in for a treat, and the Thunder Dome crowd was not disappointed.
Right from the beginning both teams came out with energy as each team was looking to strike first and establish an early push, and while both teams managed to trade chances for most of the period it would eventually be the Kushner Cobras that would strike first as a low shot from the wing popped in the air into the crease where the referees decided that it was knocked into the JEC net by one of their own players. Kushner would take the one goal lead into the intermission.
With the start of the second period, however, the tide began to turn as the Thunder managed to tie the game three minutes in when a shot by freshman Ben-Zion Kapustin lead to a juicy rebound that was nailed home by fellow freshman Dovid Rozehzadeh to tie the game at one. The Thunder built on that goal less than two minutes later as once again chaos in front would lead to a goal, but this time in favor of the junior varsity Thunder. While initially there was fear that the puck was knocked in with the high stick of Dovid Rozehzadeh, both refs discussed what they saw, and the goal was allowed to stand as they concluded the puck made contact with the stick when it was below the Kushner net crossbar. The junior varsity Thunder would continue with their offensive attack as they closed out the second period scoring with freshman Dovid Rozehzadeh netting his first career hat-trick, scoring on the power play to give the JEC a 3-1 lead as the second period came to an end.
While the third period saw chances for both teams, nothing managed to elude either goaltender as freshman Dovie Weitz provided solid and timely goaltending for the junior varsity Thunder. Coupled with the strong defensive efforts of sophomores Sammy Simcha and Yair Cantor, along with freshman Aaron Silver, this allowed the junior varsity Thunder to close out their victory and take the first game in a home and home series against their close division rivals the Kushner Cobras.
