The New York Aviators headed into the Nov. 14-15 road weekend in Rochester, NY with high hopes and plenty of confidence coming off a huge win over the league-leading Jersey Shore Wildcats and a four-game winning streak against their opponent the Roc City Royals.
After falling behind 2-0 to the Royals in the first period in Game 1, the Aviators fought back in the second period, with back-to-back goals from Jimmy Warrick and Phillip Garcia to tie the game. The two teams then proceeded to exchange a pair of goals, including Warrick’s second of the game coming in the second period to tie the game at 3-3, followed by Robert Kalata again helping the Aviators come back and tie things at 4-4 in the third period.
As the overtime period began, the Aviators were forced to kill off an Alex Rojas cross-checking penalty, allowing the Royals to pepper goaltender Stephen Mundinger early, but Mundinger held strong on the penalty kill. But, with just a little over a minute remaining in the overtime period the Royals found the back of the net for the Royals first win of the season against the Aviators.
Game 2 of the weekend proved it’s probably not a good idea to upset the Aviators, a team that hates to lose. The Aviators jumped out to a quick first period lead with a pair of power play goals from Warrick. While the Royals would pull within one early in the second, the Aviators went on a three-goal tear midway through the second period, including the hat trick goal from Warrick and goals from Seth Muzyl and a power play tally from Kalata.
The Royals would again look to bounce back, pulling within two of the Aviators, but another three-goal barrage, this time from defensemen Ricky Regala and a pair from Eric Hewitt to take an 8-3 lead. Although the Royals would score a pair of goals late in the final period, the Aviators damage was done and they boys from Brooklyn finished with an 8-5 win.
Anthony DiGiorgio was slightly less busy in net on Sunday, with just 26 shots faced compared to the 41 Mundinger faced Saturday night, but picked up the win despite also giving up five goals.
After some time off, the Aviators are back on the road to western New York Dec. 4-6 to face the Lockport Express. The Aviators are 1-0-1 against the Express this season.
For more information on the 2015-16 New York Aviators and the NA3EHL, log on to www.nyjraviators.com and www.na3ehl.com. You can also contact Head Coach Mike Stanaway directly at [email protected].
