Lake Placid wins third McHugh title
December 9, 2013
By MIKE LYNCH - Sports Writer (mlynch@adirondackdailyenterprise.com) , Adirondack Daily Enterprise
SARANAC LAKE - The Lake Placid boys hockey team rolled through the Casey McHugh Memorial Tournament this weekend at the Saranac Lake Civic Center.
The Blue Bombers beat Burnt Hills by a score of 6-0 Friday night and then capped it off with another 6-0 victory over Niskayuna on Saturday afternoon. The two wins earned them the championship in the points-based tournament that awards teams for victories and winning periods.
"We like coming over to this tournament," Lake Placid coach Keith Clark said. "We know it's meaning is important to Saranac Lake and its community, so to win it the third time it's a nice accomplishment for our kids and we're happy to be here."
Lake Placid was led by tournament MVP and team captain Shane McNierney, who had two goals and an assist against Burnt Hills and a goal and an assist against Niskayuna.
The second of those goals came in the beginning of the second period against Burnt Hills. That period the Blue Bombers came out on fire, scoring three times in the first three minutes and five times overall. That set the tone for the rest of the weekend.
"I think the first period, we were a little nervous, McNierney said. "We didn't really play that well in my opinion and the second period we came out a lot harder, got some shots on net. Once we got another one, I think we relaxed a little bit, and started playing a little bit more as a team."
Troy Jacques, Nzoni Thompson, Bjorn Kroes and Kiefer Casler also scored for Lake Placid in the first game. Kamm Cassidy had 23 saves for the shutout.
In the second game, the Blue Bomber scoring was spread throughout the game and once again was a balanced effort."I thought today we really played a complete game," Clark said after the game. "Like I told the guys, it was good from start to finish. I thought we really reacted well to a different team and the guys played well. We played as a team. We played disciplined and it was a good start to the weekend."
Connor Preston picked up the first two goals, with assists from Ryan Damp and McNierney. Then Chris Williams found the back of the net in the second period, followed by Damp, McNierney and Kiefer Casler.
"We lost a lot of our scoring from last year," Clark said after Saturday's game. "Ryan Damp's line had a good day today. They had four of our six goals out there, but we had a really nice balanced attack all weekend. All three lines were in on the scoring, and I think that's got to be our approach. It's got to be. I think that's the way we're going to fill those holes. It's going to get done by committee."
Tucker Angelopoulos had 26 saves for the shutout.
The tournament is played in memory of former Saranac Lake hockey player Casey McHugh, who died in a tragic skateboard accident in June 2010.
"It's always nice to see a great crowd, especially last night with our season opener," Ellsworth said. "Casey McHugh was a great asset to have to our greater community and especially our Saranac Lake alumni. We greatly miss him and it's great to have this memorial tournament on his behalf."
