Maroons can't maintain lead

By Zack Bellerdine / The Citizen

Saturday, January 3, 2009 11:49 PM EST

AUBURN- It must have felt like deja vu for the Auburn hockey team in the second day of the Savannah Bank Tournament at Casey Park Saturday.
Chet Susslin / The Citizen
Auburn sophomore Nick Herlihy, right, falls to the ice while skating after the puck during Saturday's game against Shaker-Colonie in the Savannah Bank Tournament at Casey Park.
The Maroons, just like on Friday, jumped out to a 2-0 lead, but watched it evaporate to a 2-2 tie. Regulation wasn't enough as the game went into overtime, where Shaker-Colonie's Doug Swezey scored the winning goal in a 3-2 win over Auburn.

“We needed to create our own opportunities,” Maroons coach Mike Lowe said.

That was something that didn't come easily after the opening period. Auburn committed zero penalties in the first, but from then on sent a total of 10 players to the penalty box.

“The lack of discipline was evident,” Lowe said. “That takes a toll and affects the team.”

The Maroons took just 16 shots, while the Jets attacked the net 34 times.

“We were short-handed from the penalties,” Lowe said. “We allowed way too many power plays today.”

Maroons goalie Steve Komanecky saved 31 shots, while the Jets ‘Alex Huynh had 14.

The Jets' first two goals came on power plays. The first was unassisted by Chris Cusack, while the second was provided by Corey Brustle. Brian Sinew and Steve Dowel each assisted Brustle's goal that tied the game in the first minute of the third period.

“We want to win,” Lowe said. “We're right there and that's the problem. You don't want to be just there, you want to do the little things all the time. We need to keep playing the full 45 minutes.”

Auburn switched things up with its starting lineup as they started Matt Festa and Bobby Gage instead of Jeremy Marginsky and Reggie Townsend. That turned out to be a factor on both of their goals. Festa scored the first goal, while being assisted by JT Foltz and Gage. The second goal came almost eight minutes later from Foltz who was assisted by both Gage and Festa again.

“We decided to just switch up the lines,” Lowe said. “There was no reason, we just wanted to try to put guys together that will work well with each other.”

The second goal came on a power play from Foltz, who normally plays defense.

“Kids know what you need to do on the power play,” Mike Lowe said. “You work on it a lot. We have the talent and athletes to do the important things to win.”

The Maroons came close to taking the lead in the third period when Townsend found teammate Brandyn Morgan on a two-against-one, but the pass was off target.

“An inch either way and we're right there,” Lowe said. “We had a great offensive opportunity. That's what I mean about being right there. We had the chance of being up 3-2, but just couldn't get it.”

Auburn (2-12) will start to prepare for a tough league week ahead as they travel to Baldwinsville Tuesday and then host Liverpool Thursday.

“We won't change the way we prepare or the things we do before the game,” Lowe said. “The kids know what they need to do and we'll do a few things differently against Baldwinsville. We know their tendencies and stuff like that.”

In the past two games, Auburn jumped out to 2-0 leads to only see them fade away.

“We're playing well,” Lowe said. “We've had the momentum and excitement on our side. We've come out and made it happen. We just need to go at it the full 45 minutes.”

Jets 3

Maroons 2

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