MONSEY – Right now, it doesn’t seem to matter who’s in those familiar uniforms.
The wins continue to pile up.
Suffern graduated nearly half the roster after winning another state title last year. There’s been a fair amount of mixing and matching this season due to injuries and travel absences. Even so, the Mounties came up with a 6-0 win over Rye in a low-stress environment Friday at Sport-O-Rama and head into the home stretch with a 13-1 record.
The winning streak against Section 1 opponents is up to 17.
“We had a great run last season and coming into this season I knew we could be a solid team, but I didn’t think we could be as good as we are,” starting goalie Tyler Levy said. “Obviously, we’ve been putting in the work and we’re getting better every day.”
Scoreboard:See our picks for stars of the game
Rankings:Rye inches up after picking up a close win against John Jay
It’s a given that Suffern is a strong defensive team so the surprise is the fact that nine players have scored at least five goals.
“The adjustment was a little big difficult early on,” senior forward Aaron Schulman said. “We had 10 seniors last season, but we’re coming together. We have kids stepping up. We have a couple of guys hurt, but other guys keep making plays.”
And this group is not likely to coast.
Staying motivated is not an issue with a team like Clarkstown proving it’s more than capable of capturing a sectional title.
“That pushes us,” Suffern coach Rob Schelling said. “They’re a phenomenal team and they knew they we’re going to be good this year. It’s not just one team. A couple of teams are good. Section 1 has gotten so much stronger. When we go upstate, they’re not any better than the teams down here.”
What it means
Suffern needs to get healthy, but this team has to be thinking about winning the section and state again. It’s not an implausible thought, and the Mounties believe that more than ever.
“It’s definitely possible,” Shulman said. “There is some work that has to be done, though.”
Player of the game
Schulman netted a pair of goals, breaking a scoreless deadlock 14 minutes into the first and making it 4-0 one minute into the third.
By the numbers
Rye (12-4): Brandon Morgan stopped 22 shots. … The Garnets had won five in a row and were unbeaten against Section 1 competition.
Suffern (13-1): Jake Rostawanik, Sean Tyrrell and Tyler Pomerantz each had one goal and one assist. … Zach Freeman scored once. … Nick Bonanno had three assists. … Finn Mitchell made 21 saves and recored the shutout.
Quotable
“One of the things we talk a lot about is not getting too focused on the name and just play the team,” Rye coach Peter Thomas said. “It’s hard, though. That’s one thing Suffern always has, there’s a little bit of an intimidation factor. The way we’ve played this year, I’m hoping we have that against Division II opponents, but we’ll see.”
“That definitely motivates us, knowing there is another team out there capable of playing up to our level,” Levy said. “Clarkstown is very strong. We just know we have to keep on working and keep getting better so we continue to stay ahead of them.”
Mike Dougherty covers hockey for The Journal News and lohud.com. He can be reached at mdougher@lohud.com or via Twitter @lohudhockey.
