Long Beach ice hockey's Michael Calvi has goal, three assists to help Marines advance to Nassau finals

This semifinal was running out of minutes at Long Beach Municipal Ice Arena Friday night, and there was no doubt which team had a ticket to the Nassau boys hockey championship round.

Then Michael Calvi put an exclamation point on a convincing victory.

After setting up three goals, the senior center scored one of his own with 2:35 left. That meant Long Beach owned seven goals from seven different players.

“We just score,” Calvi said. “We have no problem scoring. This is the closest and most-skilled team I’ve been on. We move the puck very well.”

The second-seeded Marines won for the 11th straight time with a 7-2 decision over No. 3 Manhasset/Great Neck/Port Washington that moved them to 15-2-1.

“We’ve got everything that we need,” Calvi said.

They got what they wanted. The best-of-three finals will be a rematch of last season’s finals against top-seeded Bellmore-Merrick, which swept them to take the title. Game 1 is scheduled for 7:45 p.m. Monday on this same slice of ice.

“We want Bellmore this year,” senior left wing Luke Pichichero said before the Bulldogs (15-1-2) advanced to the finals for the fourth straight year via a 5-2 win over No. 4 Syosset/Jericho in Friday night’s second semi. “We want to get them back for what they did to us last year.”

Pichichero also helped the Marines get the rematch with one goal and two assists. They received the same production from Liam Young. Caleb Kallelis, Miles Siegel, Kelly Cardo and Cody Pichichero, Luke’s brother, also scored.

“Last year, we had a lot of second place,” Long Beach coach Rob Carson said. “We were second in counties, second in states. So all my returning players, they wear that on their sleeve. They want to avenge it.”

Their hunger was noticeable.

“Long Beach played great,” Manhasset coach Will Sylvia said. “They played very physical. They played with a ton of effort. They just showed tonight that they wanted it more than us.”

The Marines quickly applied pressure in the offensive zone. Kallelis converted just 3:33 in, the lone goal of the opening period, although they had a 10-3 edge in shots.

“They controlled their emotions at the beginning,” Carson said. “They started hitting and picked up the pace a little bit as it went on.”

Siegel scored off a rebound, Luke Pichichero scored off a deflection and Cardo scored from the left circle — 4-0 after two.

“We have guys that can score from everywhere on the ice,” Luke Pichichero said.

It wasn’t all about the offense.

“Our defense has stepped up this year,” Calvi said.

After Brian Mayer scored for Manhasset (11-7) 2:01 into the third to halt Justin Mele’s shutout bid, Cody Pichichero and Young each delivered a power-play goal in a 12-second span — 6-1.

“I’m proud of our team, our coaches, our players for making it to the final four two years in a row,” Sylvia said. “That in itself is a great accomplishment. Unfortunately, we got outworked tonight.”