On Motzei Shabbat, February 12, the 8-3-0-1 TABC Varsity Storm took on the visiting 9-2 HAFTR Hawks in a highly anticipated inter-division game. TABC started out strong with a dominating first shift by their first line. However the second line capitalized when senior alternate captain Joshua Wertentheil bodied his way through the defense and stuffed in a goal off of a beautiful move to put TABC up early 1-0. The Storm never looked back from that point. On the faceoff at center court following Wertentheil’s goal, captain Zach Rothenberg took the ball down the court and scored on the same exact move that Wertentheil had scored on just mere seconds previously, to put TABC up 2-0. The score would remain 2-0 until Efraim Tiger stripped a HAFTR defenseman of the ball right by the mid-court line, brought it into the offensive zone, and calmly waited to make a cross-court backhand pass right onto the stick of Rothenberg, who fired it off the HAFTR goalie and into the net for his second of the night. The score would stay at 3-0 for the rest of the period.
TABC started the second period on a power play, however they couldn’t get anything going and HAFTR killed it off. TABC was beating HAFTR to almost every corner, and was blocking shot after shot. Goalie Sollie Wieser came through with some highlight reel glove saves as well. Then, later in the second period, TABC went on a power play looking to get that fourth goal and a bit more of a cushion going into the third period. Right away, Rothenberg controlled the ball behind the net, and made a pass to Akiva Wieder at the point, who passed it across to Efraim Tiger, who one-timed it towards the net. The HAFTR goalie made a nice save on the initial shot, but Rothenberg was right there for the rebound and he buried it for his third goal of the night, giving him a hat-trick. The second period ended shortly after, and TABC went into the locker room feeling very good as they had a nice, comfortable four-goal lead. Junior Yonatan Sragow got in for a few key defensive shifts and played very well, even clearing a ball the length of the court with his foot on an incredible play which showcased his soccer skills.
The score would remain 4-0 for a majority of the third period, until Zach Rothenberg would score his fourth goal of the game, this time on a backhand, to give TABC a 5-0 lead. With three minutes to go, backup goalie Justin Goldman entered the game and played well. Ezra Rotblat did a great job cheering from both the bench and on the court, bringing a great energy to ignite the team and get everyone pumped. He also had a great game on defense, flawlessly clearing the ball and getting multiple great shots on net; overall a great game for him.
The final score was 5-1 in favor of TABC, and with this win they locked up the three seed in their division. Therefore, they will play MTA in the opening round (at TABC) after they play their regular season finale, senior night, against Kushner at TABC on Tuesday night.
