Article by Phoenix writers Caitlin Hanratty ’25 & Paulina Barnjak ’24:
Kellenberg Varsity Hockey won against Xaverian by a score of 6-4 on Monday, December 4th.
The boys went down early in the first period, giving up 3 goals. However, the second period was dominated by the Firebirds, coming back and scoring 4 unanswered goals.
The first goal was scored by Lucas Goldstein and assisted by Luca Coschignano. Christopher Rau and Captain Jack Crotty both scored unassisted goals. And to take the lead at the end of the second period, Luca Coschignano lit the lamp with help from Lucas Goldstein and Ryan Busch. Lucas Goldstein expresses his enjoyment over his team’s success,“We played a great team game, really good Team defense and didn’t lose confidence after going down three nothing in the first period. We rallied in the second and scored four goals to give us the lead. We are ready to bring this energy to our next game this Friday and the rest of the season. Very proud of the boys.”
The third period began with pressure from the opposition. Xaverian drew a penalty, giving them a man advantage which led to a power play goal.
All tied up at 4 a piece and another penalty called against the Firebirds. This time would be different, with superior effort Chris D’Alessandro scored a short handed goal assisted by Luca Coschignano.
An empty netter was scored by Ryan Busch to secure the victory for the Firebirds.
Senior Christopher Rau expressed his joy over the first victory. “Coming from behind is a full team effort from top to bottom which requires every person on the team to buy in,” he commented. “We were able to do just that and dig deep enough to come all the way back, which is a pretty good feeling.”
The coach for the season, Coach Szalai, also gave his praise to his team, saying, “When a team faces a 3-0 deficit and remains composed and positive as a group, that team can overcome any obstacle. We have a talented squad of players, but their greatest asset was their faith in each other. Six goals, scored by six different players– that’s a team.”
But no one was as ambitious about the win as Captain Jack Crotty, who stated, “With the skill level that our players have and the great coaching staff who all have a real passion for the game, I think that we have a great season ahead of us and will make it far with the hopes of us bringing home the championship.”
Congratulations to Goalie Nick Scalice who had his first win of the season in net for the Firebirds, and to all of the players on the Varsity team. Go Firebirds!