In The News
3/4/10
By PHIL BRODSKY
Elm City Sports Writer
MILFORD- For the second time in four years, the Milford Indians took a 7-12
record into the final game of the regular season, knowing it was a .must win.
situation if they wanted to qualify for the post-season state tournament. In
2007 those hopes and dreams were shattered when St. Bernard of Uncasville
scored the game-winning goal with two seconds left to play. It was the same
situation last Wednesday night at the Milford Ice Pavilion. The Tribesmen had
their collective backs against the wall, knowing they had to defeat visiting
Bethel-Brookfield-Danbury (a strong Division III team that came in with a
13-5-1 record). This time history did NOT repeat itself. Scoring in each of
the three periods and getting brilliant goal tending from Marcus Demchak, who
stopped all 28 Icecats shots and recorded his fourth shutout of the season,
Milford defeated BBD 4-0. With this win, the Indians improved their record to
8-12, and qualified for next week.s Division II state tournament for the first
time since the 2005.2006 season.
After losing five one-goal games earlier in the season, Milford.s record had
sunk to 3-10. At that point, qualifying for and playing in the state
tournament seemed a distant pipe dream. Knowing they needed to win five of
their last seven games in order to get invited to the post-season party, the
Indians set out and accomplished exactly that. In fact they won their last
four games in a row.three by shutout.
.I felt the pressure and knew that we had to win. I had never been to States
and that was my goal this year. I never stopped believing and kept telling
Coach that we.d make it,. Demchak said. .When we were 3-10, we had some
arguments about how we should play, but now that we are winning, we came
together as a family and are playing with more confidence. When our backs got
pushed up against the wall, we found a way to pick it up. We didn.t want this
season to end early like the last three seasons did..
Freshman forward Robert Buskey got the Tribe off and running when he beat BBD
goalie Andrew Gillotti with 11 minutes, 45 seconds gone in the first period.
Milford Coach Sal Follo said, .The first goal in any game is big. We knew the
first goal would be huge tonight. I told my guys at the outset that we had to
score right away..
According to Buskey, .Craig Wargo was against the wall and he kicked the puck
over to me. I skated in with one of their defensemen on me, but I got the shot
off and it went in to the right of their goalie..
Steve Morrell and John McLenithan were awarded assists on Buskey.s first goal.
Buskey would add a helper on Paul Kirmaier.s goal which came at 2:37 of the
second period and gave Milford a 2-0 lead. He sheepishly admitted that he
didn.t even remember that goal.
After gathering a feed from T.J. Olsson, Wargo let fly a one-timer what
whizzed by Gillotti at 13:28 of the second period. Busky closed out the
scoring when he knocked the puck across the goal line at 10:03 of the final
period.
He added, .I got the puck on a pass from Don Pieger who was in the corner. My
shot hit off Andy Bostick.s skate and went in..
Nick DePascale and Pieger assisted on Buskey.s second goal of the night.
With his three points, Buskey now has six goals and five assists.
The winners almost added a couple oif moirécoires. Early in the second period,
the Indians had the puck on the BBD goal line but failed to shove it home.
Later in the same session, an Indian shot banged off a goal post. IN the third
period, Buskey had a break-away but his attempt at a hat trick was smothered
by Gillotti.
Follo added, .Everybody knew what we were up against and what we had to do
tonight. We all knew that our seniors had never been to the Big Dance. It was
like the seventh game of the playoffs. The winner would go on and the loser
would go home. Lately, our practices have been very intense. My guys never
gave up. Our senior leadership has just been outstanding. Our younger guys
looked up to the seniors and fed off them. Throughout the game, BBD kept going
with the home run pass. I told my guys to keep their composure and play our
game. I thought all along we were going to win and by the middle of the second
period, I had developed a really good feeling. I thought my guys were
responding well. We beat a good Division III team tonight. Their No. 4 (Nick
Martin) is a defenseman who can wheel from one end of the rink to the other.
We rolled out three lines most of the night and they had only two. Maybe we
began to wear them down by the third period.
We can relish this win tonight but then its back to work..
The winners outshot BBD 30-28.
