Bernot, Breslin, Turk excel for East Williston
East Williston's Matthew Bernot, right, gets congratulated by teammates after scoring his fourth goal of the game in the third period. Bernot recorded a natural hat trick in the first period en route to East Williston's 5-0 win. (Jan. 21, 2012) Credit: James Escher
Matt Bernot scored four goals, Justin Breslin had a goal and three assists and Graham Turk made 22 saves to propel East Williston to a 5-0 hockey victory over Oceanside Saturday at Iceworks in Syosset.
Each of East Williston's stars had a period to shine.
Bernot lit up the first period with a hat trick, Turk fortified the defense in the second by helping to kill five penalties, and Breslin had two of his four points in the third.
"I think as a team, we're playing really well together and that was the whole key to the game today," Breslin said. "There really was no weakness."
Bernot and Breslin paired up early to build a 3-0 lead after the first. Bernot scored twice off of rebounds created by Breslin's blistering shots, and added his third off another rebound from Jake Levy's slap shot.
After a scoreless second, Bernot and Breslin were at it again in the third. On an odd-man rush midway through the period, Bernot took a pass from Breslin in stride and finished by deking to his backhand to make it 4-0. Breslin later scored the fifth goal with 8:27 left to play. Bernot has two hat tricks this season.
Breslin said the chemistry he had with Bernot was a bit surprising, considering the two often play on different lines.
"We don't usually work together but right now, we're clicking well and it's showing on the scoreboard," Breslin said.
Turk carried the Wildcats in the second, as East Williston committed five consecutive penalties to open the period. Oceanside had a three-minute, two-man advantage, but Turk came up big and ultimately the Wildcats killed all nine of the Sailors' power plays.
"We did a great job of killing penalties," Turk said. "There was a lot of traffic in front of the net, so it was hard to see the puck at times, but I just had to be sharp on my angles and try to stay square to the puck."
East Williston (11-5-2, 24 points) increased its lead over Oceanside (10-5-1, 21 points) atop Nassau's Liberty Division with the regular season entering its final weeks. Although both teams should make the playoffs, Breslin said it is crucial to clinch the division, knowing a Liberty title comes with an automatic bid to the state championships.
"It's a really important [win] because once you get into the playoffs, anything can happen," Breslin said. "It's good to have confidence and know that we can already be going to states if we win the rest of our games before the playoffs."
