BHBS pulls away late for 8th straight

BHBS hockey headed into the weekend knowing they needed to get two points to play at home in sectionals, and they were able to earn the first point with a 5-2 win over Shaker/Colonie on Friday night.

Geordan Buffoline scored a goal and had 2 assists, and now has 48 points on the season, first in Section 2. He is also tied with Saratoga’s Josh Dagle for first in goals, with 20, and leads in assists, with 28. Tino Benamati scored twice, and now is also tied with Dagle and Buffoline for first in goals. Goalie Mark Stocker won his 4th straight start, and now moves to fourth in the Section in save percentage (.900) and third in goals against average (2.64). For Shaker/Colonie, defenseman Zach Turnbull scored twice, and now ranks second amongst defensemen in the Section in goals, with 14.

The scoring began in the first period, when Tino Benamati put home a wrister from Buffoline to make it 1-0 Spartans. Less than two minutes later, Buffoline put home a feed from Koszelak to double the lead. 2-0 would hold as the score after 1.

Shaker/Colonie was able to put together some more offense in the second after a somewhat lacidasical first period, and after Sam Swingruber scored for BHBS, Zach Turnbull buried a shot from the point to get the Jets on the board, and make it 3-1. That would be the score after two.

The Jets were able to make it interesting in the third, when Zach Turnbull scored on the powerplay to cut the lead to 3-2 with 5 minutes remaining. But two minutes remaining, Tino Benamati was able to put home his second of the game and expand the lead to 4-2. Sam Swingruber buried an empty net goal from center ice with 33 seconds remaining to seal the 5-2 win.

For the Spartans, they win their 8th straight game, and improve to 14-4-1 (9-3-1 S2), and will next face off against CBA in the regular season finale on Saturday. For Shaker/Colonie, they finish 4-15-1 (2-9-1 S2), and will play Niskayuna/Schenectady in a play-in game on Monday.

The stakes are high in tomorrow’s BHBS-CBA game. The teams will play each other in sectionals either way, but the winner of Saturday’s game will gain home ice advantage for the sectional game.

GOALS:

1st Period:

12:40 (BHBS) Tino Benamati (19) ASST: Geordan Buffoline (27)

10:51 (BHBS) Geordan Buffoline (20) ASST: Tino Benamati (18)

2nd Period:

4:01 (BHBS) Sam Swingruber (14) ASST: Tino Benamati (19), Geordan Buffoline (28)

3:36 (S/C): Zach Turnbull (13) ASST: Tyler Wilson (13)

3rd Period:

5:27 (S/C): Zach Turnbull (14) ASST: Jimmy Morrison (19), Mark Egan (13)

3:15 (BHBS) Tino Benamati (20) ASST: Alec Lind (19)

0:33 (BHBS) EN Sam Swingruber (15) ASST: NONE