#1 Pelham Pelicans Vs Northeastern Clinton Cougars March 5th 2022

NYSPHSAA Boys Hockey Regional
2022 regional champions
Photo By: 
Kyle Coryea

The Pelicans of Pelham Memorial High School celebrate their win in the NYSPHSAA Division II boys hockey regional with some of their traveling fans. The Northeastern Clinton Central School boys hockey team’s season came to an end Saturday with an 8-3 loss to the top-ranked team in NYSPHSAA Division II hockey in the regional round of the state championship tournament.

The Cougars played hard to the end, but they were unable to overcome the Pelicans of Pelham Memorial High School.

Pelham put pressure on the Cougars early, keeping the puck in the offensive zone for much of the third period. The Pelicans led shots by a 31-4 margin at the first intermission, with a pair of goals by sophomore Griffin Evans - both assisted by junior Louie Marcelino - the difference on the scoreboard.

The Cougars came out of the locker room looking to get back even and accomplished half of that job when senior Reid Lavalley notched the team’s first tally of the game.

Any momentum the Cougars wanted to take from that was stifled quickly, as senior captain Luke Green restored the Pelicans’ two-goal lead just 27 seconds later.

Pelham Memorial piled on a further two goals, by Marcelino and junior defenseman Eric Elbery, to build up a comfortable 5-1 lead. A couple of breaks for the Northeastern Clinton team threatened to put them right back in the game before the end of the period, though.

The first came as senior defenseman Blake Chevalier launched the puck up the ice 175 feet from behind his own goal line. Instead of going behind for icing, the bouncing puck hit the pads of goaltender Jake Mallinson and deflected into the net.

The second break came just 46 seconds later, as freshman Winfred Simpson scored off assists from Lavalley and freshman Ryan Racine to bring the Cougars within two goals.

That was the closest the Section VII champions would get, however, as the Pelicans added another goal by Marcelino before the end of the period, with Evans and senior Ben Rosenberg getting the assists.

The third period was once again one controlled by Pelham Memorial, with an 18-4 advantage in shots in the final frame. Freshman Mark Rosa got on the score sheet at 11:28 of the third period, assisted by freshman Reid Finster and Rosenberg, before Marcelino completed his hat trick 23 seconds later.

Rosenberg recorded assists on Pelham’s last five goals of the game.

Mallinson made 14 saves for Pelham, while senior Alain Juneau’s 66 saves in net for Northeastern fell short, as the Pelicans outshot the Cougars 74-17 in the contest.

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