Ice hockey: Rye fights back from a two-goal deficit to score an OT win over Mamaroneck

LARCHMONT — How many times does a battle of top teams end up being a disappointment?

Rewind the tape on multiple Super Bowls to get an idea.

Friday night at Hommocks Park Ice Rink, the battle between the No. 2-ranked Mamaroneck ice hockey team and No. 4 Rye, Mamaroneck took an early 2-0 lead and things looked like they might be over early.

Emphasis on seemed.

Two-plus periods and 49 seconds into overtime later, Rye's Brendan O'Byrne finished off changing that narrative with a terrific play and goal that lifted the Garnets to a 4-3 upset win.

Turning point

"In overtime," Mamaroneck coach Mike Chiapparelli said afterward, "any shot is a good shot."

O'Byrne may have had better shots but few have likely been as sweet as his quick, game-winning wrister, that brushed off the top of Tiger keeper Max Baker's glove and into the net for the win.

O'Byrne would have been credited with his own assist, if such a thing were done, because it was his heads-up play a second before his shot that was key in Rye winning its opening game of the season.

With the teams in overtime thanks both to a tying goal by Mamaroneck's Riki Takaya with 6:09 left in regulation and an incredible effort by Baker, who was credited with 37 saves on the night, a deflected puck popped into the air around the high slot. O'Byrne immediately spotted it. Mamaroneck didn't seem to initially see it. O'Byrne bounded high, gloved it, dropped it and shot.

Player of the game

Then the player of the game, who earlier had an assist, started celebrating and was mobbed.

"I just saw the puck in the air and knew I've got to get it on the ice and off my stick as quickly as possible," O'Byrne said.

By the numbers

The scene was much different earlier.

Rye, which was back on its heels early, took a penalty with 11:30 left in the first period.

Thirty-five seconds later, the Tigers had a 1-0 lead after Rye goalie Anabelle Thomas made two consecutive saves (the second off her head) but the second rebound landed near her left post and Chris Mathews put it past her.

Kevin Torre and Takaya had assists on the play.

Mathews made it 2-0 off a Takaya assist when he got free on a breakaway less than a minute later and buried the puck under the crossbar.

But after a Rye takeaway in the Tiger defensive end, Tommy Greenlaw halved that lead, scoring off assists from Tommy Richardson with 5:40 left in the first period.

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Rye started picking up its game late in the period and Baker had three consecutive saves before Thomas made a stop on a 1-on-0.

Nearly the entire second period belonged to Rye, whose defense, led by Carter Barford and Lukas Elovaara, not only blocked shots but recorded a get-the-calculator-out number of takeaways, many coming with the defense aggressively pinching i from the blue line and creating turnovers on Mamaroneck's breakout attempts.

Baker was a wall and sometimes got lucky, as he did when an Elovaara shot hit the post.

But Baker could do only so much and with 5:20 left in the second period, Elovaara scored on a power play to tie the score off a scramble in front after Baker made two consecutive saves. Brian Curran and O'Byrne had the assists.

The fine play of both goalies was on display in the last half minute of the period as Thomas, who had 17 saves, stopped Takaya's penalty shot and Baker stopped Reece Dorfman's breakaway chance.

Rye took its first lead of the game with 13:49 left in the third period when Mamaroneck coughed the puck up on its defensive blue line and Dempsey Brown buried a wrister high over Baker's blocker.

But Tayaka knotted things, coming down the left wing, dodging a defender and beating Thomas low to her left.

Quotables

The Tayaka goal also followed a nice Thomas glove save and two great stops by Baker, the second while he was down on the ice.

"The Baker kid stood on his head, for sure," Rye coach Peter Thomas said. "He had a great game and kept them in it."

Thomas said in between the first and second period, he reminded his team Mamaroneck was a good team with two wins already under its belt and Rye needed to "commit to the game plan and system."

"I think it was really important for us to shift the momentum," he said of how his team came out in the second period.

He praised Barford's and Elovaara's tenacious play, saying his team "fed off those guys."

Chiapparelli pointed to a couple of key breakdowns by his team, including failing to ice the puck when it had the chance when down a man right before the flurry in front of the net that ended with Elovaara tying the score at 2

He also said one Mamaroneck could and should have "laid him out" when seeing O'Byrne jump and snag the puck before netting the game-winner.

But, mostly, he pointed to his team wearing down more so under the pressure of playing, post-COVID restrictions, before a big home crowd for the first time in two years, than being worn down by Rye.

"I think we mentally burnt ourselves out. They might have pinched but we were throwing the puck to them anyway. We were in panic mode," Chiapparelli said.

Next up

Mamaroneck (2-1) will play ETBE (Eastchester/Tuckahoe/Bronxville/Edgemont) at 8:45 p.m. Tuesday at the Ice Hutch.

Rye (1-0) will host the BYSNS (Brewster/Yorktown/Somers/North Salem) at 7:45 p.m. Wednesday at Playland.

Nancy Haggerty covers cross-country, track & field, field hockey, skiing, ice hockey, girls lacrosse and other sporting events for The Journal News/lohud. Follow her on Twitter at both @HaggertyNancy and at @LoHudHockey.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Ice hockey: O'Byrne OT goal lifts Rye to 4-3 win over Mamaroneck