It’s been a banner start to the winter campaign for the Rye Town/Harrison hockey team thus far, and the Titans took one step closer to closing out the calendar year in style on Tuesday night, as they stayed perfect with a decisive 6-1 win over Eastchester Tuckahoe Bronxville Edgemont at Rye Playland.
Although they’re still plenty of season left, at 6-0 thus far, the Titans couldn’t have asked for a better start to the year.
Tuesday’s win was fueled, in part, by a tremendous offensive performance from Max Tse who notched a hat-trick for the Titans in a game which saw them climb to a 2-0 lead in the first quarter and never look back. Rye Town/Harrison also got goals from Alex Sabino, Tyler Beardsley and Jack Mazzella—who tallied two assists as well. CJ Stumpf made 19 saves as his skaters peppered J.C. DiNapoli with 37 shots. Eastchester got one goal back in the second period, but it wouldn’t stand against the Titans’ output in the third.
According to Titans head coach Rich Myers, the blueprint for Tuesday’s win was much the same one the team has been following all year long.
“The forechecking has been great and I’ve really been impressed with our overall team speed,” said Myers. “And so far, that’s been a really good combination for us.”
Myers noted that so far, just about everything has been breaking right for a Titans team that came into the year with a mix of seasoned vets and inexperienced players cutting their teeth on the varsity level.
“I don’t think we really expected to get off to this kind of start this year,” he said. “We lost one player who transferred, but we’ve really gotten a complete buy in from the guys who play travel, which has made a big difference.”
The Titans have one game left before the calendar turns to 2024, a Friday tilt against Carmel. Myers said he’s looking forward to seeing how his team responds to the final challenge of the year as they look to turn their early momentum into a strong second half.
“Carmel is a good team and that’s always a tough bus ride to take all the way up to Brewster,” he said. “Hopefully we can take care of business, finish up strong, and then keep that going in January.
