RED RAIDERS TOPPLE TIGERS, WIN 16-3

16-3.

When one typically sees that score at the end of a sporting event, that person would normally associate it with a football game or even in baseball. But 16 goals being scored in a hockey game isn’t a normal occurrence.

That is exactly what happened on Saturday, as the St. Francis Red Raiders defeated the Amherst Tigers by a 13-goal differential.

“It’s pretty rare to score 16 goals,” Red Raiders coach Tim Benner said. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a team get that many goals in one game before. But it’s nice to see us finish some chances, because we’ve been a little snake-bitten so far this season when it came to taking advantage of scoring chances, and today it just came all together.”

Pierce Greene, who led the way with four goals and an assist, seemed stunned at the output as well.

“16 goals is pretty crazy to think about, but I think all of our lines were just really clicking today,” Greene said. “We were moving the puck really well and our systems were working well too.”

It was the second time the two schools faced off this season, and it was also the second time the Red Raiders emerged victorious by more than six goals. Including their 9-3 win over the Tigers on December 4th, the Red Raiders have beaten the Tigers by a combined score of 25-6.

“You can tell, over the course of the last month or so, how much our team has improved since that game,” Greene said. “It’s just the product of playing against tougher competition, and it’s really raised our level of intensity and focus.”

At first glance, the first period appeared to give the impression that the contest would be just another hockey game. Jack Kernitz, Andrew Michalski and Andrew Scanzuso all lit the lamp for the Red Raiders to head into the intermission with a 3-1 lead. But was the team’s relentless forecheck that finally forced Amherst’s will to break.

“We could tell that when we started to apply a lot of pressure that (Amherst) would kind of back off,” Greene said. “We kept at it, and it worked.”

Kernitz, Cullen Roll, Greene, Justin Kirst, Ben Kyte, Connor Sedia and Scanzuso all pumped home goals throughout the period, with Greene recording a hat trick. As soon as one goal would be scored, another would seemingly come only minutes or seconds later, creating a snowball effect that the Tigers couldn’t recover from.

“The goals just kept coming and coming,” Benner said. “That second period, needless to say, was what turned the tide for us.”

Roll, Greene, Erik Pawelski and Cody Felser each tickled the twine in the third period to seal the win for St. Francis. The Red Raiders also outshot their opponent 40-8 during the game.

Christopher Sansone and Charles Sinagra scored the lone goals for the Tigers, with Sansone notching a pair of tallies.