Hamburg coach John McFall said that junior goaltender Griffin Coppola played his best game of the season on Sunday.
“He made some great saves, very rarely gave up a rebound,” McFall said. “I think he caught seven or eight shots, just caught ’em right in his pads and core and didn’t give anything up. Not to give a team a second chance in a close game like that is amazing.”
Coppola wasn’t sure about all of that. He just played his best and remained undaunted through whatever happened.
“It might have been; nothing really stuck out to me, but I just tried stopping all the shots I could,” Coppola said. “I just stayed confident throughout the whole game, didn’t get down on myself on anything. I gave up a couple of rebounds but just kept going forward and tried my best.”
He finished the game with 31 saves in a 4-1 win over Clarence, but Coppola gave the Red Devils credit too.
“I expected a tough match up,” Coppola said. “I know they’re a great team. If you look at the standings, it shows. And we came out well. They came out hard to play and we played well, so I’m happy with how we played, but they’re a great team and they’re gonna do well in the playoffs, I can tell.”
But it wasn’t just Coppola who gave his best effort on Sunday, and he was quick to mention that.
“Everybody played out of their mind today,” Coppola said. “No one did bad; everyone just did their job, and we got the W. Great game. If we play every game like that, we’ll go far.”
Senior captain Jason Lucarelli scored twice in the win, and his linemates Bobby Slemmer and Josh Dake each added a goal as well, and Lucarelli was quick to credit the effort of every line as well as Coppola behind them.
“We came out with one of our best games of the year, so I’m glad we were able to come away with it,” Lucarelli said. “Griff played great, like usual. And today was one of those days where we could send three or four lines, and everybody put out their best game.”
“We’re rolling lines,” McFall said. “[Clarence is] a solid team. You play against a team like that, they have three solid lines. I can’t constantly keep Lucarelli and Dake out there. They’re obviously our top two guys, but to see our white line play great and our red line play great just gives our purple line an extra breather and an extra chance, and it becomes infectious with everybody. They know they have to do their job; they don’t want to let anyone down.”
Junior defenseman Jason Chiodo led a strong defensive effort and finished with two assists as well.
“I had full confidence in my team with how we’ve been playing, and I’ve been on everyone about playing their roles, and that’s what we came to do, and we conquered,” Chiodo said. “We just try to get pucks hard off the glass, and just didn’t let anyone enter the zone.”
Chiodo too gave credit to Coppola for those times when Clarence did enter the zone with the puck. He knew he didn’t have much to worry about with the solid goaltending behind him.
“Griff’s always playing 100 percent,” he said. “Always ready for the games. He’s just ready to go at all times. I’m always counting on him behind me.”
The fast-paced game that remained scoreless for over half of regulation was exactly what McFall wanted. When other teams play fast and intense, it only motivates the Bulldogs to match it.
“Believe it or not, it’s the kind of game I wanted with these guys,” McFall said. “It seems like the faster the pace, the tighter the game, the better we play. Playing up a division has brought the best out of us. It’s a challenge for us, and we’ve been able to meet that challenge. And I think our best games have been games where it’s a fast-paced game. It’s forcing us to keep up and match their speed and match their intensity, and I think we wore ’em down a little bit. And we had the advantage of the speed and intensity late in the game because of it.”
Hamburg’s slow start might have had something to do with the fact that the Bulldogs had played a full game plus overtime in a tie against Frontier less than 24 hours earlier. But once they got moving, they were nearly unstoppable. It was Lucarelli, of course, who broke through the scoreless tie with 7:07 left in the second period. His linemates Bobby Slemmer and Josh Dake came through with the assists.
“My linemates set me up with some time, and I was able to find the net, that’s about it,” Lucarelli said.
Clarence tied the game 3:02 later with a goal by Michael Dec, but the Bulldogs weren’t finished with their second period scoring, even as time ran down. It was Lucarelli again who rang one off the post and in with just 25.6 seconds left in the period.
“A pass came up through the middle and it came loose and I won the race,” Lucarelli said. “And we had a 2-on-1, and I’m looking for the pass, and the kid got down on his knee, so I had nowhere to pass it, so I just found the top left corner.”
Winning those races to the loose puck is one of Lucarelli’s favorite things to do and to see, and he believes that his teammates winning those races as well was key in Sunday’s win.
“Winning the races and winning the battles,” Lucarelli said. “I thought we did a great job of that. We won almost every race to a loose puck, which I always talk about that. I love that. That changes the tempo of games.”
“I don’t see that kid get beat too often in three years now,” McFall said of Lucarelli. “As our leader, as our captain, he’s leading by example, and guys are matching what he’s trying to do. That’s huge; if you win races, you’re gonna have a battle on the puck. If you lose them, they’re gonna get control. Now you’re chasing instead of taking it to ’em.”
Dake scored just 44 seconds into the third period, assisted by Lucarelli, and Slemmer added one before the third period was halfway over. Suddenly Hamburg had a healthy 4-1 lead with just over half a period to go, and the Bulldogs never let up.
The win gave Hamburg two more points in the fight for the No. 2 seed for small school playoffs. The Bulldogs now have a three-point lead over the Flames with two games left to play; the Flames have three.
“It was great because we got two more points,” Lucarelli said. “So we got to move a little more in front of Will East and try to get that second seed, and it was one of our best games of the season, so hopefully we could build off of it for St. Joe’s next Sunday.”
St. Joe’s. The No. 1-ranked large school in the state. Hamburg could be intimidated, but instead, McFall is excited for the challenge.
“I think some teams are, ‘Oh no, we’re playing them,'” McFall said. “I want to see what we’ve got against the best team. They’re a great team, and he doesn’t have three great lines; he’s probably got five. Every kid, it’s like a carbon copy of everyone: fast and quick and good with the puck. And that’ll bring the best out of us, so hopefully we bring our competitive level. It’s gonna be a great challenge for us. We got a week to get ready and lick our wounds here a little bit because we’re tired, and it’s playoff hockey. Two games left in the season; you have to have it going now.”
Chiodo is more than confident and issued a warning to future opponents.
“Other teams should know that we’re coming for ’em, and we just need to keep our streak going with hard play,” he said.
Coppola’s game plan against St. Joe’s is simple: it starts with his skates.
“I gotta tie my skates tighter, I know that,” he said. “But still just keep trying to stop every puck.”