St. Anthony's beats Long Beach to win second annual Long Island ice hockey championship

In this exact game last year, St. Anthony’s suffered heartbreak in overtime. This year, the Friars had their eyes set on a different outcome, and their seniors made sure of it.

Thomas Azzariti’s final high school hockey game ended with him scoring twice.

“It felt really good to win and get that redemption,” Azzariti said. “It’s great to do it with everyone that was here last year for the most part. It feels amazing to go out like this.”

St. Anthony’s defeated Long Beach, 3-2, in the second annual Long Island high school ice hockey championship game Saturday at Northwell Health Ice Center in East Meadow.

The Islanders donated ice time at their practice facility for the game and honored both teams Friday night at UBS Arena, along with a post on social media wishing both teams luck.

Long Beach, known for starting fast, came out flying. The Marines created several quality chances in the opening minutes, but Friars goalie Jordan Valcich made the stops and St. Anthony’s adjusted to the chaos Long Beach creates.

“It was something we talked about,” St. Anthony’s coach Bob Lund said. “We said we really had to come out flying. We couldn’t sit back and have to climb a hill. I thought we stayed with them and then it was back and forth all game.”

The Friars ended up creating an opportunity of their own toward the end of the first period, and it was tic-tac-toe.

As a defender attempted to hit Anthony Cutalo, he delivered a tape-to-tape pass to Zack Sirel. The captain then found Azzariti, who received the pass on his forehand and finished with his backhand to open the scoring with 33.4 seconds left in the first period.

The Marines got a chance on the power play in the second period and capitalized when Cody Pichichero found Miles Siegel backdoor to tie it 1-1 with 8:11 left.

“Our power play has been great all year, over 40%,” Long Beach coach Rob Carson said. “Anytime we’re on the power play I feel confident, but that team is a good team and their goalie is just outstanding.”

Just two minutes later, St. Anthony’s was on the attack. Nicholas Busa dumped the puck in and Anthony Sorrentino won a battle in the corner. He got it back to Busa, who then dished it to the point.

Senior Christian Buttacavoli then let it fly with traffic in front and it found the back of the net.

“I don’t think anybody saw it,” Lund said with a laugh. “We kept saying we need to get guys in front of the net. I feel we lacked that last game and the kids got in front there.”

In the third period, the Friars’ top line struck again, this time with a bounce that went their way. Behind the goal line, Azzariti ripped a shot from the corner and it banked off the Long Beach goalie to go up 3-1 with 12:07 left.

“I didn’t know if it went in at first,” Azzariti said. “But then I saw it went in as they signaled it. I saw the goalie off the post a bit so I was like why not just rim one in and see what happens and I had some luck.”

Less than a minute later, Long Beach had a power play and its star, Liam Young, delivered. He scored five-hole to get the Marines within one with 11:17 left.

“When he got that one it felt like it gave us more life,” Carson said, “but they did a good job clogging up the neutral zone and not giving us chances to set up.”

Long Beach then continued its pressure throughout the third period but Valcich made multiple key stops. The Marines were still down by one with 1:49 left. They pulled the goalie for a final effort.

Buttacavoli and the Friars’ defense kept Long Beach from creating any dangerous chances. The clock struck zero and the Friars were champions.

“This felt like weight off my shoulders,” said Sirel, who had two assists. “I remembered this game last year and thought about it every day, and to finally be able to win, it’s awesome.”