Braves Open Season with Back-to-Back Wins

A blowout win followed by a nailbiter finish resulted in two straight wins for the St. Regis Braves against Tyendinaga and Caughnawaga.

After swapping goals with the visiting Tyendinaga Wolfpack on Sunday, May 29, at the Massena Arena, Tray Square fired in a goal with just under six minutes on the clock that would hold up as the game-winner, thanks to a solid effort from the Braves' defense and a stalwart showing from netminder Tory Bigtree. The final score was 9-8.

"Tory Bigtree really came through at the end," said Assistant Coach Andy Jacobs. "There was a good effort from everyone in the third period, considering the heat and humidity...defense came up big."

In the first period, Zach Hopps took a pass from Justin Oakes after 63 seconds of play and turned it into the first Braves goal. After 10 minutes of offensive silence from both sides, Jarret Jacobs and Tevin Terrance set up Oakes, who lifted the team to a 2-0 lead. With just under eight minutes in the period, a player not identified on the scoresheet wearing number 76 took a pass from Greg Reilly and turned it into the first Wolfpack marker. About 30 seconds later, Zach Hopps converted a pass from Derek Hopps and Oakes to reclaim a one-goal lead. But less than 30 seconds after that, Tyendinaga's Cain Brown got control of the ball and returned the scoreboard to a tie, 3-all. Terrance wasn't content to hit the locker room behind, and scored two straight goals with 2:04 and :04 left in the first period, with respective assists from Dan Lazore and Derek Hopps.

The Wolfpack dominated the second frame, with three straight goals from the sticks of Brown, Greg Reilly and Chass Maracle. With 14:06 left in the stanza, Jacoby Thompson interrupted the Tyendinaga momentum with his only goal of the game, but with two more Wolfpack goals from Reilly on a powerplay at 9:53 and Brown about a minute-and-a-half later.

The third period saw the Braves regain traction which eventually proved them the winners. Dwight Bero unassisted tied the game after 2:01, leaving the score at 7-7. At 9:02, Jamie Brant passed to Brown, who returned Tyendinaga to a one-goal lead.

Derek Hopps with 6:39 left tied the game again, followed by his squadmate Square with 5:53 left in regulation punching in the game-winner.

Jacobs led the offense with two goals and a helper. Zach Hopps scored twice. Justin Oakes scored once and assisted two plays. Hopps tallied a goal and an assist. Solo goals came from Square, Bero and Thompson. Terrance and Randall Seymour each recorded single assists.

For the Wolfpack, Brown scored four times with two assists, a game high. Reilly scored twice and assisted once. ­Maracle scored once and Brant had a solo assist.

"It was good for our second game. We worked on some things. It was a hot one, so the boys persevered," Braves Coach Chuck Brown said. "Hats off to both teams...I'd like to thank all the fans for coming out on this hot, humid night. We want to make the hometown proud."

Two nights earlier at Massena Arena, the Braves rattled off 10 unanswered first period goals and never looked back for a 17-5 win.

Caughnawaga's Karontase Jacobs took a pass from Jason Thompson 1:04 into the bout and put their team at an early 1-0 lead. The Braves answered with a scoring barrage. They notched 10 straight goals from Thompson (two goals), Oakes (scored twice), Ky Tarbell, Dalston Day (twice), Zach Hopps, Shaun Chubb and Daniel Lazore.

The second period featured five Braves goals from John Jacobs, Jarret Jacobs, Zach Hopps, Ky Tarbell and Oakes. That was interrupted by the Indians' second marker from a player only identified on the scoresheet as number 9.

Ky Tarbell and Thompson scored for St. Regis in the third period, along with Caughnawaga's Robert York, Lee Thomas and Jacobs.