High school hockey notebook

Oceanside steps up

No. 2 Oceanside takes on No. 3 Garden City Sunday at 6:30 p.m. in a one-game semifinal in Nassau's Liberty Division playoffs, and from a numbers standpoint, the gap between the two teams looks large.

Oceanside (13-6) is plus-33 in goals scored, and Garden City (9-7-1) has scored three fewer goals than it's allowed. On paper, Oceanside looks like a heavy favorite.

But Oceanside coach Bill Clark said: "It's a little deceiving. We had started off in a lower division and got swapped up."

Oceanside fielded a young team this season and played its first six games in the C Division, something Clark said was good for his team.

"I have a couple of freshmen, a bunch of sophomores and juniors who played in the [junior varsity] ranks," he said. "But playing the first games down in the C Division gave them confidence."

After moving up, Oceanside faced Garden City four times during the regular season and split the series.

"The key to beating them is to play well and know where the brother combination is," he said.

The "brother combination" refers to Garden City's Albert and Spiros Markopoulos, who each have 16 goals and double-digit assists this season.

But Oceanside's Brian Schehr (22 goals) and Kyle Kalibat (19 goals) might be equal to the task.

"He's a hard-nosed kid," Clark said of Kalibat. "He's one of those gets-the-job-done players