Site Editor posted on February 07, 2014 22:45
Brandon Graham scored with less than two minutes left in the first overtime as Black Horse rallied from a third period 4-2 deficit to defeat Riverfront 5-4 in a thriller played at Hollydell on Friday night to open the Tier II Playoffs. Dominating the game offensively for most of the night Black Horse launched 62 shots at Stephen San Martin, who was brilliant in nets, but the determination of this senior led team kept the pressure on.
Dylan Richardson scored the first of his two goals on the night late in the first period on the power play as Riverfront led 1-0. Midway through the second period Black Horse finally broke through the wall known as San Martin, when Eric Winters put home a rebound to tie the game at 1-1. Seconds later Graham gave Black Horse a 2-1 lead as his shot went off the glove of San Martin and into the net. Sean Conard tied the game at 2-2 with less than three minutes left in the second period. Meantime San Martin made several big stops including stoning Scott Veneziale twice on breaks.
Early in the third period Richardson broke down the left side and picked the far corner and his goal gave Riverfront a 3-2 lead. Nick Taylor made it 4-2 midway through the period and things looked bleak for Black Horse given the way San Martin was playing. But just seconds after Taylor scored, Kyle Ringheiser made it 4-3 with James Malseed getting the helper. Then with less than two minutes left and Black Horse on the power play, Malseed’s shot from the point through a screened San Martin found the net and we were tied at 4-4. That set the stage for Graham as he just found the corner on a rebound of a shot by Veneziale and the bench erupted and the comeback was complete.
Written by Mike Costantino