Following a conference win against SAR on Sunday December 20, the TABC varsity hockey team traveled to the Five Towns to take on the HAFTR Hawks in an inter-conference game on Saturday night, December 26. All attending knew this game would be a fun battle between the 8-0 Storm and the 10-1-1 Hawks. Fans from both schools piled into the gym and the intensity was at a high from the beginning of the first period. The scoring started early. Zach Kramer gave HAFTR the lead with a beautiful shot from a slightly past the half-court line. After drawing a penalty, Jake Berger scored a power play goal for HAFTR. This gave them a 2-0 lead that they held throughout the remainder of the first period. But the Storm did not retreat easily.
In the second period Captain Yair Knoller got his own rebound and was able to rip the ball top-shelf, cutting the lead to 1. Play continued back and forth with goalies Shua Beilin and Ryan Gluck holding down the fort for each team. Late in the 3rd, TABC drew a penalty. On the power play, Captain Ari Fuchs sent a pass across to Shua Naor who one-timed a shot. Daniel Levy was in front and calmly roofed the rebound, tying up the game with less than 2.5 minutes to play. The game headed into overtime, tied at 2.
Coach Mo Fuchs put out Daniel Levy, Yair Knoller and Calev Minsky to start for the 3-on-3 overtime. The period was as intense and exciting as expected. First, off of a chance from HAFTR, Beilin made a beautiful right pad save to keep the game tied. A minute later, Levy chipped the ball to Knoller behind the net, who banked a shot off of the HAFTR goalie, ending the game with a TABC overtime win. TABC moves on to 9-0 with games against JEC, Kushner and Frisch to come prior to the break.
By Jonah Ganchrow
