Taconic Hockey Rallies Past Wahconah in Third

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Through two periods on Wednesday, it looked like the Wahconah-Taconic hockey game was going to be a yawner.

 

But don't sleep on Taconic.

 

Four different players scored to erase a 2-0 deficit and give Taconic a 4-3 win in front of a packed house at the Boys' & Girls' Club.

 

"Unfortunately, it was one of those situations, where it seems to be our team's trademark to come out a little flat at the beginning of the game," Taconic coach Steve Terpak said. "It's like two or three in a row we came out kind of flat in the beginning."

 

Actually, it was a flat start to the season for Taconic, which opened 0-5, including a 5-1 loss to Wahconah in December. But Terpak's team has come back to win its last two.

 

And Wednesday, it really was a comeback.

 

Wahconah (3-3) got goals from Hoosac Valley's Nate Lapine and McCann Tech's Mike Bloom to take a 2-0 lead midway through the first period. And that is where it stayed until the floodgates opened for Taconic.

 

Terpak said that the tide really started to turn in the second period, after an on-ice discussion that focused on Xs and Os.

 

"In the second period, our guys really turned it around," he said. "They started paying more attention to the system that we are using. The first period we were a little loosey-goosey. The second period, we tightened it up, and we had really good scoring opportunities.

 

"Didn't capitalize, again, but we knew it was coming. Our guys persisted."

 

It did not hurt when the second intermission talk in the team room went beyond Xs and Os.

 

"We did have a good meeting in between the second and third period," Terpak said. "We had a gut check.

 

"I got it started, and they finished it. I get the ball rolling. I get the thing going in the right direction, and the veterans take over after I start it. They take the team over, and I'm proud of 'em. I'm really, really proud of these kids."

 

Connor Conant got the scoring going for Taconic with a shot from the left-wing circle in the opening minutes of the third to make it 2-1. Moments later, Steven Poripski lit the lamp to tie the game.

 

In the fourth minute of the third, Brandan Peasley scored on a 2-on-1 to give Taconic the lead.

 

And in the eighth minute, Shane Tierney scored with help from Andy Cella and Harrison Rapant, who got his second assist of the game.

 

But Wahconah rallied.

 

Just more than a minute after Tierney's tally, Patrick Jamross converted a feed from Bloom to get the designated home team within a goal.

 

And after a tense six minutes of back-and-forth hockey, the game had one more bit of drama: a faceoff with 8 seconds left in the Taconic zone with Wahconah's goalkeeper pulled. Wahconah won the draw, and Hjalmar Gustafsson had a try from the right wing circle that went just wide of the goal.

 

A few seconds later, Taconic skated off with the win.

 

Although he ended up with healthy goal support, Taconic goalie Brandan Leary gets a large measure of the credit for the victory after keeping his team close in a first period dominated by Wahconah.

 

"No question about it, Brandan kept us in the game in the first period," Terpak said. "No question about it."