In The News
3/2/10

By PHIL BRODSKY
Elm City Sports Writer

MILFORD-Thanks to Andrew Bostick and Marcus Demchak, the Milford Indians. hopes to qualify for the upcoming state tournament are still alive. Bostic scored two goals and Demchack pitched a shutout as Milford blanked New Milford 3-0 Monday night at the Milford Ice Pavilion. With this victory over the visiting Green Wave, Milford upped its record to 7-12. For the second time in four years, the Indians. hopes for post-season play come down to the final game of the regular season. The Indians. last regular season game was scheduled to be played on Wednesday night against Brookfield-Bethel Coop. Back in 2007, St. Bernard of Uncasville scored a go-ahead goal with two seconds left in the game to beat the Indians and block their bid for post-season play.

According to Coach Sal Follo, .Our seniors have never experienced state tournament play and they can taste it. When they were freshmen, we St. Bernard scored the game-winning goal with two seconds left in the game and that loss prevented us from qualifying. We only won five games when they were sophomores and just three games last year. They knew what was at stake tonight. Their backs were against the wall and they stepped up big. That.s what senior leadership is all about..

While the first period ended up scoreless, Milford came away with a decisive 9-3 edge in shots. Ironically, the Green Wave totally dominated the second session, firing shot after shot at Demchak, but the Tribe.s 2008-2009 All State goalie turned away each and every New Milford shot. Despite being outshot 16-3, the Indians recorded the only score of the second period. With 13 minutes, 1 second gone in the session, Captain Alex Impellizieri fed the puck to Bostik and he whipped it past New Milford goalie Matt DePalma.

.Alex was in the corner and saw me up in the slot. He fed me a perfect pass and I took the shot. It was a nice hard shot that bounced off the post and went in,. Bostick said.

Earlier in the second period, defenseman Steve Morrell had banged a one-timer off the post. New Milford also missed a golden opportunity to score. With the puck sitting in the crease, a Green Wave skater fanned on his attempt to knock the puck home, which gave the Milford defense a chance to sweep the puck away.

.We played a decent first period but forget the second period,. Follo said. .Marcus had to stand on his head to keep the puck out of the net. Ironically, we had only three shots. The one by Steve Morrell hit the post and we scored on another of the three opportunities. It was a great pass from Alex to Sandy and Andy made a great play to put the puck into the net..

With 24 seconds left in the second period, the Indians. Craig Wargo was sent to the penalty box for tripping, giving New Milford a power play.

As was the case in the second session, New Milford took the fight to the Indians in the third period, outshooting them 12-5 but once again Demchak stepped up big and turned away each of the Green Wave shots.

.We killed off that penalty at the start of the third period and then we were on our way. Time after time, Marcus kept coming up big but everybody worked hard and moved the puck like we are supposed to do,. Follo added.

With help from T.J. Olsson who was streaking down the right wing, Bostik let fly from the slot and netted his second goal of the game at 6:55.

.T.J. got the puck and we were off on a two-on-one break,. Bostik said. .He saw me open and got the puck to me. I back handed it to the glove side and beat the goalie..

He added, .We knew that we had to win tonight if we wanted to go to States, so we played extra hard..

New Milford pulled its goalie with a minute left in the game. With the net wide open, Wargo closed out the scoring with an empty net score with 18 seconds left in the game. Don Pieger and Morrell picked up assists on that score.

Follo said, .I know we were outshot tonight (31-17) and still won. We finally caught a break! Maybe it.s our time. This is a team that bounced back after losing five one-goal games early in the season. What can I say about Marcus that I haven.t said before? This was his third shutout of the season. Alex Impellizieri played a great game. Don Pieger played hard and stood up strong. T.J Olsson and Steve Morrell played well too."

While Milford improved its record to 7-12, the loss killed New Milford.s last hopes to qualify for States, as its' season ended with a 7-13 record.

Prior to the shutout victory over New Milford, the Indians blanked Norwich Free Academy 6-0 and edged St. Bernard 3-2. The victory over 0-17 NFA featured pairs of unassisted goals by Paul Kirmaier and Pieger. Nick DePascale added an unassisted power play goal and two assists. Wargo also netted another of the Tribe.s four power play goals. Milford outshot the Wildcats 52-21.

Follo added, .NFA is a struggling Division 3 team. We played four lines and six defensemen. By the third period, we had really worn them down.. With the score tied 2-2 and 12:28 gone in the third period, Don Buskey (set up by Pieger) scored a game-winning power play goal that lifted Milford past St. Bernard of Uncasville.

It had been a scoreless stand-off for two periods. The Saints finally broke the ice with Evan Turek.s goal at 1:31 but the Indians matched that with Wargo.s power play goal at 5:31. DePascale (with help from Wargo and Buskey) gave Milford a 2-1 lead at 6:48. The Saints tied the game at 2-2 when Perry Frink beat Demchak with a power play goal at 10:10.

.My guys never ever gave up, even when we got behind. We had a five minute lull in the second period, but I couldn.t have asked for a better hockey game. St. Bernard has some excellent hockey players and outshot us 29-26. We just played outstanding hockey and came from behind to win. Usually when the first goal of the game comes in the third period, it.s a really big goal. We wouldn.t die.we just kept coming back,. Follo said.

.At one point, we were 3-10 but we.ve gotten a lot better in the last four weeks and won four of our last six games. In addition, we.re finally healthy. Without all the injuries we had earlier in the season, we now have excellent depth..

Milford was scheduled to close out its regular season Wednesday night with a must-win contest against the Brookfield-Bethel-Danbury Icecats.,