Wahconah Overcomes Rough Start, Rolls Over Taconic

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. -- The academic calendar says it is school vacation week, but the players on the Wahconah hockey team got schooled on Tuesday night.

 

True, they won not one game but two by relatively comfortable margins.

 

But their coach came out of the night hoping his players learned a valuable lesson about focus.

 

"Right now, our focus is: We're in the playoffs. We've got to be going on all cylinders," Don Disbrow said. "We cannot take a period off. We cannot take a shift off.

 

"And if you do, someone else is going to get your time."

 

Vinnie Orlandi had a hat trick, and Logan Rumbolt and Mike Bloom each scored twice in Tuesday's first game, a 10-4 win over Taconic in a game originally scheduled for Feb. 3.

 

Then after a brief pause, Taconic and Wahconah went at it again, finishing the last 20 minutes of Saturday's game, which was suspended in the second period due to problems with the ice at the Boys and Girls Club.

 

Wahconah started the continuation with a 6-1 lead, which quickly became 6-3 when Nikos Gian and Kevin Quinto scored for Taconic.

 

But Wahconah scored the next two and, thanks to three goals by Andrew Beaudoin, skated off with an 11-4 victory.

 

At the end of a long night of hockey, Disbrow was still shaking his head over the events of the first period of the opener. Wahconah jumped out to a 3-0 lead after five minutes only to see Taconic tie things up on goals from Quinto, Brandon Peaslee and Brian Henault -- the last just beating the buzzer to end the stanza.

 

"The first period of the first game was ugly hockey," Disbrow said. "They came in here way too lax. I think they were thinking they were ahead 6-1, but they realized it was 0-0.

 

"I began sitting some people for some shifts and basically said: If you're not going to give us the effort, I'm going to put someone in there who is going o give is the effort.

 

"I think that woke up a few people."

 

Wahconah took back control of the game with a 4-0 second period.

 

Nate Lapine got it started with a goal from the slot with help from Orlandi in the second minute of the period. Mitch Andrews followed just 23 seconds later to make it 5-3. Rumbolt and Bloom lit the lamp before the end of the period to give Wahconah a 7-3 lead.

 

It pushed the lead to 10-3 before Aiden Kotski set up Shane Tierney for a Taconic goal midway through the third.

 

Aaron Houghtaling made 32 saves in the Taconic goal. Nico Romano stopped 17 shots in the first two periods for Wahconah, which got seven saves in the third from Corey Callender.

 

Prior to Tuesday's first game, Taconic captain Tierney was recognized by the Berkshire County hockey officials with the Don Troy Memorial Sportsmanship Award.