Long Beach captures Game 1 of Nassau hockey finals vs. Bellmore-Merrick
Luke Pichichero of Long Beach celebrates his goal during Game 1 of the Nassau ice hockey finals at the Long Beach Municipal Ice Arena on Monday. Credit: Sam Johnston
The puck eluded Justin Mele and went into the net. Bellmore-Merrick had sawed Long Beach’s lead to one with 57.7 seconds left in Game 1 of the Nassau boys hockey finals, and the Marines’ goalie was sweating over it.
“I was like, ‘Oh, God, no. Please don’t tell me we’re going to overtime,’ ” Mele said.
But the second-seeded Marines held on, avoiding the same fate as last year against the same team.
Mele made 20 saves, including 12 in the second period, and Luke Pichichero’s third-period goal became the difference maker in a 3-2 win over top-seeded and defending Nassau champion Bellmore-Merrick on Monday night at Long Beach Municipal Ice Arena.
“It means everything because being up 1-0 and having them have to come back, it’s the best,” Pichichero said after Long Beach (16-2-1) claimed its 12th straight victory. “When we went down last year, I know how we felt, and it was a terrible feeling just knowing that we had to win two back to back."
Game 2 of the best-of-three series is at 8 p.m. Wednesday at Town of Oyster Bay Ice Skating Center in Bethpage.
“It’s very important,” Marines coach Rob Carson said of the 1-0 advantage, “but you can’t get too comfortable because that’s a very good team over there.”
That team dropped to 15-2-2.
“There’s guys in that room that have been down 1-nothing on more than one occasion,” Bulldogs coach Patrick Braglia said. “So adversity is not something that they’re afraid of.
“Nothing in life is easy. We embrace hard.”
Pichichero gave Long Beach a 3-1 lead with 8:05 left in the third period when he snapped the puck from the left circle.
“It was a great shot,” Pichichero said.
Bellmore-Merrick ultimately pulled goaltender Henry Lagalia late in the game for an extra skater and Jourdan Luskoff scored. But the Marines survived.
“It feels amazing,” Mele said, “because you don’t want to be down one game and have all the pressure on you in the next game.”
Michael Calvi provided Long Beach with a 1-0 edge in the first. Then Cody Pichichero, Luke’s brother, scored in the second. Bellmore-Merrick's Ryan Felsberg cut it to 2-1 before the game went to the third.
The teams went 1-1-1 in the regular-season series. Long Beach drew confidence from the last two games, a tie and a win.
“Just knowing that you’ve beaten this team and you’ve tied them,” Carson said, “it was very big for the group going into this.”
