T-Birds Beat Rival Hornets in Thriller

Second period goals by Dylan Podbielski and Sam Amendola 37 seconds apart proved to be the decisive blow to Branford; despite a late comeback; and gave the T-Birds a 4-3 win in a thriller Wednesday evening, at Northford Ice Rink.

Podbielski scored when he ripped a shot from the right side of the zone, tucking it in the right corner of the net, giving the T-Birds (4-8) a 3-1 lead, and giving Podbielski his second goal of the night. Podbielski was assisted by Ryan Dunn on the goal.

Life got temporarily worse for the Hornets (3-10) when North Branford scored on their next shot. Amendola received the puck from Kris Marra in the center of the zone, and scored on an impressive snapshot over Branford goalie Ryan Kallert's right shoulder.

North Branford's coach Shaw was happy with the tenacious play by his team during the second period, one that showed the impressive scoring ability the T-Birds have.

“Anytime you are playing out there the next goal is always important," said Shaw. "I thought at that point, we can't sit back and relax. With a team like Branford, they are going to be opportunistic, they are going to try to score some goals when they can, and they do that.”

Kallert was pulled after the T-Birds took 4-1 lead midway through the second period. He finished with 20 saves on 24 shots. His understudy, Thomas DeLucia, made 11 saves.

“All of our losses have been tough this year,” Branford head coach Adolph Brink said. “North Branford played well. They deserved to win.”

T-Birds netminder Kyle Saroka made 33 saves and made some absolutely vital saves in what turned out to be a much tighter game than the crowd expected after the first period.

The game was extremely physical, and the hard hits increased dramatically as the game went on; especially during the final minutes.

“[The physical play] went both ways. The kids get tired both ways and it ends up being a lot easier to hit.”

Shaw felt the increased physicality had a great deal to do with the rivalry, which brought out both squad's competitive streaks.

“Branford [vs.] North Branford is a tough rivalry, and nobody wants to lose,” Shaw said. “They were hanging it out on the line there and throwing everything at us. I thought my guys responded well to the pressure.”

The Hornets composed themselves and caught a big break when Criscuolo was taken down on the breakaway, forcing the referee to call a penalty shot with 32 seconds remaining in the second period. Criscuolo would take advantage of the T-Bird's defensive gaffe when he buried the shot into the back of the North Branford net.

Brink was pleased with the referee's decision and Criscuolo's composure.

“I thought it was the right call. I told [Criscuolo] to put the puck in the net with your best move,” he said. “He made a nice move and put the puck in.”

The momentum was completely in favor of the Hornets, when they got within a goal with 13:11 left in the third period. On a power play, Criscuolo scored his second of the game, getting the puck through Saroka's five hole. Despite Saroka's efforts to close on it, the puck trickled into the net.

“We have had trouble scoring all year. We carried play [today],” Brink said. “I'd like to say we have a better team, but we didn't capitalize on the opportunities, and that's what makes you win games.”

Shaw was disappointed with the level of intensity at the start of the third period.

“I thought we didn't come out as strong as we needed to. We committed some penalties that hurt us in the game,” he said. “But overall, the momentum swung back and forth. I thought we carried ourselves pretty well and took care of business.”

Branford pulled DeLucia with 1:00 remaining in order to gain the extra skater, but their last push was fruitless, as they were not able to get anything of quality on net.

Scoring opened with 40 seconds left in the first period, when captain Eric Podbielski stole the puck in his own zone during a penalty kill and scored on the breakaway. Podbielski deked to DeLucia's left and put the puck behind the goalie's leg.

Podbielski's brother Dylan kept the T-Birds offensive effort going when he scored from the blue line with 8:57 left in the second period. Eric Podbielski and Dunn were credited with the assists.

Robert Celentano got on the score sheet for the Hornets when he received Alex Mansi's rebound and scored on a saucer shot at point blank range with 7:14 left in the second period. Mansi and Joe Parker were credited with assists on the goal.