BURLINGTON - Burlington coach Bob Conceison half-jokingly said that first games of a season are the ones where you need to expect the unexpected. He certainly seemed like a prophet after the end result of his team’s 2014 debut against defending Div. 1 state champion Reading.
A team that didn’t do a whole lot of scoring in the preseason and suffered a big loss when first line center Robby McLean left the game with a shoulder injury early in the first period, managed to put together a seven-goal outburst to take down the No. 8 ranked Rockets, 7-4, in the open for both teams Wednesday night at the Burlington Ice Palace.
“We didn’t score many goals at all in the preseason, either of us,” Concision said. “In all the scrimmages, we hadn’t really been scoring much but our saying is, on opening night, you expect the unexpected and that certainly was unexpected. A shootout? I expected a 2-1 game or a close game.”
Junior forward Robby Ryan was one of several players who had to shift into a new role on the fly following McLean’s injury, and he responded with a hat trick. John Manfredi added two goals and Josh Boulos contributed a goal and an assist for Burlington. Jason Ewing scored twice and Mike Keogh had a goal and an assist for the Rockets.
“We lost one player but we had to make a lot of adjustments because he’s our go-to center offensively,” Concision explained. “We had to make a lot of adjustments along the way with lines. We moved Manfredi to center, we moved Ryan up. Fortunately it worked out for us but as I said, anything can happen in first games and that is certainly crazy.”
ADJUSTING ON THE FLY
Manfredi scored twice on the night, his first coming off a blast from the upper, right-wing circle just 1:14 into the game.
Just a couple of minutes later, preseason Herald Dream Team defenseman Mike Seibold delivered the kind of clean hit players dream about on McLean, who stayed on the ice for several minutes before skating to the locker room. Conceison said McLean was taken to the hospital for a shoulder injury.
The Red Devils were left scrambling to change things around and the Rockets took advantage, scoring twice in just over a minute with goals from Kevin Tobin and Ewing to take a 2-1 lead after the first period.
Keogh made it three straight for Reading to open the second, getting the finish on a pretty pass from Nick Miele on a 2-on-1 break. Burlington stopped the bleeding as Boulos got one back, but the Rockets regained their two-goal cushion when Ewing got a tip on a shot from Seibold with 3:58 left in the second.
The momentum began to shift the Red Devils thanks to a 2-on-1, shorthanded break with Ryan carrying the puck into the zone, keeping it and firing one home to cut the Reading lead to 4-3.
“I don’t even know,” Ryan laughed when asked to describe the play. “I shot it and the guy behind me kind of tipped it. It hit the goalie’s stick or something, fluttered up, I didn’t even touch it and it just plopped right behind him and went in.”
Ryan then tied the game just 1:16 into the third, pouncing on a bad giveaway and burying his chance.
“I think it was a lot of motivation. McLean, our first line center, went out and it sparked us, we knew we had to do it for him," Ryan said. “We knew they were a good team, defending state champs and we wanted to start the season off hard and we just worked together.”
He added, “It was pretty hectic when he went down. We were just kind of going with it and Coach even said we were all over the place at the start but once we settled down and organized who we were playing with it got easier.”
The Red Devils owned the third, getting the go-ahead goal on a bullet from the right-wing circle by Anthony Nikolopoulos at 4:12. Manfredi added his second on a power play, then Ryan completed his hat trick with an empty-netter in the final minute.
“I actually felt the third goal (Ryan’s shorthanded tally) turned the momentum of the game around,” said Conceison. “I felt like even though we were down going into the third period, I felt like we had the territorial advantage a lot of the time. When their top end players were on the ice, they did some damage but I think with the rest of the game, I thought territorially we were in good shape.”
DEFENSIVE TURNAROUND
The other key to a dominant third period was the play of the defense. The quartet of captains Nick Carlino and Adam Morgan, Boulos, Shane O’Halloran and Michael Hayes did yeoman’s work after a shootout-like start and held the Rockets without a shot on goal for the first 10 minutes-plus of the final frame.
That unit’s ability to turn things around after the shootout start is something was huge as the defense is going to be a big key for Burlington’s hopes.
“We have strong defensemen,” Concision praised. “We had some issues with decision making tonight but I think they were adrenaline decisions to tell you the truth because they were really hyped. But once we kind of calmed down and played with composure and control, our defensemen are pretty strong. That’s going to be the key to our team is the defensemen. You wouldn’t know it in a 7-4 game but it’s going to be the key.”
Also standing tall in his varsity debut was junior goalie Nick Howard, who settled in nicely after the opening onslaught and finished with 17 saves.
“He played very well,” said Conceison. “It’s always tough to be in your first game, your first start. Same with (Reading goalie Josh Caruso), first start against Burlington here at a packed house. First start for Howie against Reading, defending state champions. He’s had a good preseason. I thought he played well.”
