1/21/05
Salisbury Battles Back Against Deerfield
Deerfield, Mass. – Salisbury, blitzed by three Deerfield goals in the first six-plus minutes of play, battled back today to take a 7-5 win over a hungry Deerfield team in a makeup of the snowed-out game of Jan. 8.
Jerry Pollastrone led the way for Salisbury with a four-point game (2g,2a), while linemate Mike Atkinson finished with three points (2g,1a). Forward Ben Ketchum and defenseman Mike Walsh each had two assists.
For Deerfield, Josh Lesko hada pair of goals while linemate Mike Collins had a pair of assists.
The game was the first between the two teams since Salisbury edged Deerfield, 2-1, in the Flood-Marr final last month. This one had a much different feel, very wide open and physical, with the referees letting a lot go. The fans were wide awake from beginning to end.
In the early going, Deerfield was on fire, taking the play to the visitors, who were pinned in their own end. Up to about the nine minute mark, Salisbury only had one shot on goal while Deerfield built an early 3-0 lead.
The Big Green struck first when Lesko beat Salisbury goalie Jeff Mack with a snap shot just 1:08 in, Matt Lentini and Collins assisting.
Deerfield went up by two when a Matt Lovejoy shot from the point slipped between Mack’s pads at the 5:45 mark.
Just 19 seconds later, Deerfield went up by three when Collins took a shot from the left faceoff circle and it came out to Lesko, who banged it home.
After that goal, Salisbury woke up, and carried the play, both in terms of shots on goal and territorially, for the rest of the game.
Salisbury got on the board when a Walsh shot from the point was tipped home by Danny Galella at 12:16. It was Galella’s first goal of the season.
Salisbury outshot Deerfield 11-9 in the period, but trailed at the break 3-1.
Deerfield came out for the second and scored a goal right off the bat to go up 4-1 as Milton Lyles faked a shot, drew the goalie over, and dished it to linemate Jeremiah Bayer who flicked it high into the net.
Salisbury would then begin to pour it on. First, defenseman Alex Biega took a pass at the blue line, held it, took a step or two down the high slot and snapped it past Deerfield goalie Rick Redmond at the 6:30 mark. Atkinson and Pollastrone picked up assists on the play.
A little over a minute later, Atkinson, off a pass from Ketchum, fired a wrister from the left faceoff circle that beat Redmond, cutting Deerfield’s lead to 4-3.
But Deerfield struck next as J.J. Evans took a headman pass from a Deerfield d-man, and neatly deked Mack at the 11:42 mark to put Deerfield back up by two.
Salisbury would cut the Big Green lead back to one again when, with the teams skating 4-on-4, Deerfield turned over the puck down low and Atkinson picked up the loose puck and fired it past Redmond at 15:36.
The second period ended with Deerfield clinging to a 5-4 lead. Salisbury outshot Deerfield 20-6 for the period.
In the third, Salisbury tied it up at 5-5 when Ketchum passed it to Walsh who moved it up to Pollastrone who flew down the left wing into the Deerfield end and fired a perfect bullet from the faceoff circle that beat Redmond high to the near side at the 11:09 mark.
The winning goal came with 5:13 left in regulation when Jeremiah Cunningham carried the puck down the left side, made the pass across to Will Ortiz who fired it past Redmond. Andrew Estey also picked up an assist on the play.
Deerfield pulled Redmond with 1:09 left and managed to keep the puck in the Salisbury end for 49 seconds, though the disc was bouncing all over the place like a superball. Eventually, the suspense came to a crashing end when Salisbury defenseman Brian Hartigan then got the puck up to Pollastrone, who buried the empty netter with 20.6 seconds left.
“It was a great game,” relieved Salisbury coach Dan Donato said afterward. “Deerfield came out flying, and we just weren’t ready to go. We came out and tried to feel them out.”
“In the second period, we outshot them, 20-6. I told them, ‘Just keep playing the way you are and we can win.”
“Deerfield is a good team. They made us work hard. I think we’ll look back in March and say that a lot of good came out of this game. This was a big game for us to win.”
For Deerfield, it was a tough loss, but they did give Salisbury a run for their money, despite being outshot by a 38-18 margin. Salisbury, in the end, just has too much firepower up front.
