Tigers Crash the Party in Wonderland.
McGeary Pots OT Winner in Season Opening Thriller.
Bridgeport, CT - For the third straight game the Ridgefield Tigers and the Fairfield Prep Jesuits needed overtime to decide the winner. Last years’ season opener saw the Tigers take down the Jesuits for the first time in school history with a 3-2 overtime win at the Winter Garden, Jack Stafford provided the heroics in last years’ opener.
Sunday night, it was Jack McGeary who scored the winner on the powerplay just over a minute into overtime that propelled the Tigers to a 2-1 win and a season opening victory yet again.
The Tigers started slow out of the gate. The Jesuits had put a few shots on Tiger goalie Sean Keegans, but at 2:55 of the first period, Harrison Chuma’s point shot was deflected in the air when Landon Byers gloved the floating puck down in the slot, turned and put one over the shoulder of Jesuit goalie Chris Ligas to give the Tigers a 1-0 lead early on. Chuma drew the lone assist.
The goal seemed to wake the Tigers. They began playing a more physical, mean-spirited period. Keegans made two big stops in the opening frame, one on Joseph Mancini who had a point blank chance and another later on, on a rebound chance for Devin Blanchette.
Later in the frame the Tigers went on the powerplay after Nick Cullinan was hauled down on a partial breakaway. The Tigers pleaded for a penalty shot to no avail, which seemed to ignite the Jesuits who made a habit of creating shorthanded chances all night.
The Tigers weathered a late period surge from the Jesuits and came out of the first 15 minutes with a 1-0 lead, despite being outshot almost 2:1.
Both teams had great scoring chances in the middle frame. Early on the Cullinan-Stafford-Forrest line nearly made it 2-0 twice on their first shift of the 2nd period on a Stafford redirect from a point shot and a drive by Cullinan to the net.
Both teams then exchanged powerplays. On the Tigers’ powerplay it appeared they had made it 2-0 when a point shot bounced straight in the air and landed behind Jesuit goalie Ligas, but Harrison Chuma was right there in the crease and inadvertently used his hand to put the puck across the goal line. The goal was immediately waved off much to the displeasure of coach Shaun Gallagher.
The Jesuits again had a grade-A shorthanded chance on the same powerplay but Keegans was able to rob a Jesuit defensemen who was left all alone in the slot after a drive wide left the middle of the ice wide open, Keegans used the glove for his best save of the night.
The Tigers got into some penalty trouble as the game got chippy at the end of the frame when Liam Galloway went off for holding. Forrest went off for roughing a few minutes later after getting caught up with a Jesuit defensemen. The Tigers however, were perfect on the penalty kill Sunday night, continually getting into shooting lanes and blocking shots.
The third period began similar to the second, both teams exchanged quality chances and when the Jesuits were whistled for too many men on the ice, they continued to generate shorthanded chances including two 2 on 1’s where the connecting tap in pass was just inches too far on both chances.
Jeff Pracella nearly put the Tigers up two when a net mouth scramble puck bounced loose to him but Ligas made his best save of the night and kept the Jesuits down just 1 goal.
Shortly after, Stafford and Forest were sprung on a 2 on 1 after a great breakout pass by Cullinan, Staffords’ shot caught just enough of Ligas’ shoulder to keep the score still at 1-0.
The missed opportunity proved to be costly for the Tigers, as the Jesuits were able to jam a puck in the crease before Skyler Celotto was able to poke one through Keegans to knot the score at 1 with just under three minutes left. Blanchette and Kevin Oricoli drew the assists.
Keegans held firm for the remainder of the game and made a tremendous save on Ryan Eckert in the closing minutes when Eckert was able to wheel from behind the net and around into the slot and put one on Keegans who stood tall and kept the game tied.
Cullinan nearly gave the Tigers a lead with less than a minute to go when his low angle chance hit off the head of Ligas. That would however, be the last save Ligas made as the two teams went into overtime.
The overtime was short and dominated by the Tigers. A great opening shift ended with Jesuit Matthew Kernaghan being called for slashing, which put the Tigers on their fourth powerplay of the night.
The fourth time proved to be the charm after a faceoff win and solid board work down low, the puck went around the net where McGeary collected it, surveyed the ice for a second and took a stride before slipping one five hole on Ligas, in a spot defensemen rarely score from.
McGeary was mobbed by Tigers in celebration who are now 2-0-1 in their last 3 against the Jesuits. And 1-0 on the season.
The Tigers (1-0) are in action again on Friday at 5 p.m. at Wesleyan University as they take on Xavier (1-0) who’s coming off a 5-4 win over Greenwich on Saturday.