The first eight times the Rye Town/Harrison hockey team stepped on the ice this year, their opponents simply had no answer for a rapidly improving squad. On Monday afternoon, the Titans kept up their winning ways, topping North Rockland 3-1 at the Suffern Sport-O-Rama to improve to 9-0 on the season.
When the Red Raiders and Titans met in December, RTH escaped with a 4-3 victory in a back-and-forth game, but they wouldn’t give their opponents a chance to hang around on Monday, getting goals from Sean Mohr, Tyler Beardsley and Jack Mazzella to jump out to a 3-0 lead before the Raiders tallied their first point.
Titans coach Rich Myers credited the team’s strong play in the opening period for setting the tone for the day, noting that RTH is at its best when playing aggressive hockey.
“Setting the tone is huge,” he said. “We tell them first good shot, take it, first good hit, make it; we want people chasing us.”
Defensively the Titans played solidly throughout, cutting down on the kinds of scoring opportunities that gave North Rockland a chance last time around. Netminder CJ Stumpf tallied 25 saves on the day, keeping the Red Raiders off the board in the first two periods of play.
“We recognized that they work from behind the net and have their guy cut through the middle,” said Myers. “So today we just tried to clog that up and limit their chances.”
At 9-0 on the year, the Titans will look to extend their season starting streak as they gear up for a few games against sub-.500 teams in the next few days. On Jan. 18, they will take on White Plains (3-8) before squaring off against Rivertowns (4-6) and New Rochelle (3-8). On Jan. 31, they will see the combined Eastchester/Tuckahoe/Bronxville/Edgemont team, which is currently sporting a 4-4 record.
With the team looking to continue their strong play through the last few weeks of the season, Myers said that each game gives the club a chance to make strides and fine-tune the things that have made them successful to this point.
“Defensively, we’ve seen our forwards tend to fly the zone a little too quickly, so I’d like to see that improve,” said Myers. “That gives us more options on the breakout, so we can go from there.”
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