On Motzei Shabbat, in the second half of a double-header, the TABC Varsity Storm were up against the visiting JEC Thunder in what had the potential to be a very close game. Both teams came in with the same record, and this was an important game in terms of playoff seeding for both teams. TABC knew this would not be an easy game as JEC has arguably the second best goalie in the league in Jason Silverstein. TABC looked good early, as they dominated and scored on the opening shift. They controlled the ball for the entire shift, and senior captain Zach Rothenberg eventually fed Akiva Wieder at the point, who passed across to linemate Josh Lieman, who then proceeded to fire the ball on net where Efraim Tiger was in front screening the goalie. The ball found it’s way to the back of the net, and TABC was up early, 1-0. Silverstein made some crazy, acrobatic saves which kept JEC in the game, but later on in the period, after two outstanding keeps at the point by Lieman, Efraim Tiger buried a rebound in front to make it a 2-0 game heading into the second period.
The second period, a period notorious for being the Varsity Storm’s worst one, started off slow until Lieman sniped one in from the point to give TABC some breathing room and make it a 3-0 game. The game looked like it would get out of hand fast, however JEC scored on a gritty play by one of their top offense men, Elisha Schmutter, to backhand the ball past starting goalie Solly Wieser. Also, Silverstein made save after save to deny TABC’s multitude of scoring chances. The score would remain 3-1 going into the third period.
In the third, TABC went on a power play after junior defenseman Netanel Kramer was called for an interference penalty. The power play looked smooth with good, crisp passing, and Rothenberg patiently found Tiger on a beautiful “tic-tac-toe” cross pass, which Tiger one-timed into the top part of the goal to make it a 4-1 game and give TABC a cushion, and a chance for some of the rest of the players to get some quality minutes in the game. The chances to score kept coming, however Tiger missed a wide open net on a great pass across by Rothenberg, and Silverstein made some incredible saves to make sure the score would stay 4-1. It was a good win for the now 8-3-0-1 Varsity Storm, and they look to continue their winning ways as they face off in an out of division game against the highly rated 8-2 HAFTR Hawks next Saturday night, February 12, at TABC in what should be an amazing game to watch.
