On Thursday, November 2, the SAR boys varsity hockey team welcomed the JEC Thunder into the Hive. The Sting entered the night with a 1-0 record after breezing by Westchester in their first contest 27-0. Similarly, the Thunder defeated Westchester 21-3 to improve their record to 1-1 just three days before the bout with the Sting.
The Sting’s starting goaltender, Henri Kolb, returned to the lineup Thursday after nursing a hip injury for multiple weeks. However, the hometown team still lacked defenseman Efraim Herstic, who was still not feeling a hundred percent.
Nevertheless, the Sting came out flying, scoring six first period goals, four of which were credited to captains Gordie Kolb and Jason Burian, who each netted two goals apiece. On the other end of the court, the JEC offense was held in check, only managing a couple shots on goal. As if the game wasn’t harsh enough for the Thunder, their starting goalie, Sammy Friedman, exited with 30 seconds remaining in the opening period after injuring his head in a collision near his own goal. Without any backups, a JEC player was forced to suit up in Friedman’s place in order for the game to continue on.
The Sting opened up the second period with no intentions of slowing down, burying an astonishing seven more goals. After two periods of shutout hockey, Henri Kolb was yanked from the game as a precautionary measure, and sophomore Bentzion Fiorino manned the net for the rest of the contest. Fiorino locked down the fort, allowing SAR to cap off the win 16-0, and improve to 2-0.
After an early exit in last year’s playoffs to DRS, the Sting have promising plans of winning the first varsity championship in school history. Meanwhile, the Frisch Cougars stand in their way, as SAR will travel to Paramus, in a yeshiva league classic for SAR’s true first test of the season. As for Frisch, they would like to return to the finals after losing to DRS in Lawrence Middle School last year. The Sting and Cougars split one game apiece in the ’16-17 season, and are both 2-0 heading into this matchup. The hopes of a championship prominently rely on the outcome of this game, so expect for both teams to battle this one out until the final buzzer.
By Henri Kolb (HS ‘19)
