After playing eleven games in 22 days, where they had lost just one game, the young Stevenson Mustangs were focused on the UCHC playoffs and a chance to get back to the championship game where they lost last season to Elmira in the only conference contested for title in the East. This year’s team has built a solid foundation through the trials of last season and the opportunities presented throughout this season with a deep roster and contributions from all.
“We have been in playoff mode already,” said head coach Dominick Dawes. “We played a good game last weekend and are building quite a rivalry with Wilkes in both the MAC and UCHC conferences. We are disappointed with the loss but not the effort and we will hopefully be better entering the UCHC conference tournament on Wednesday. With all those games in a compressed schedule, we have been in a playoff game mode for over a month. There hasn’t been a lot of practice time and when we do it is really a light skate just to focus on a few things to get ready to play a game. We have played so much that having depth has been critical in our success. Whether it is players just tired and needing some time or being banged-up a bit, we have been able to fill the voids with our depth and really have all four lines contributing to our success. That will definitely help us going into the conference tournament this week.”
Prior to their UCHC quarterfinal game, the Mustangs had gone 8-1-0 in February, including four overtime wins. On the season, Stevenson was 5-0-1 in overtime games, winning five straight after a season opening 4-4 overtime tie with Canton. Seniors Ryan Patrick, now the all-time points leader for Stevenson, and fellow senior Chad Watt have delivered three of the five overtime winning goals which is not surprising for their coach.
“While we are really young as a team, we really have been led by our three seniors,” noted Dawes. “I think that Luke [Benitez] (4-6-10/+12), Ryan (10-16-26/+9) and Chad (9-8-17/+10) have been outstanding this season. Ryan leads us in points, and I think this is probably Chad’s best season here. The three of them have delivered all season and while we have had to focus on rest and recovery and balancing the line-up on a game-to-game basis, these guys have been complete players and true leaders by example.”
As talk turns to considerations for league honors, there is another player who stands out for Stevenson. Junior goaltender Ryan Kenny has had an outstanding season for the Mustangs building off his success in his first two seasons at Stevenson. Kenny this year has an 19-5-1 record with a goals-against average of 2.36 and a save percentage of .926. Through Wednesday night’s quarterfinal win over Manhattanville, Kenny has made more than 730 saves and has his teammates ultimate confidence when he skates into the crease.
Ryan has earned everyone’s confidence,” stated Dawes. “He is totally committed to being the best goaltender he can be. He is always first into the dressing room and last one out. I look across the league and he has almost 300 more saves than the next closest goaltender, and there are some very good ones in our conference. That tells you how important he is to our success so far this season and as we prepare to play in the conference tournament.”
After splitting with quarterfinal opponent Manhattanville during the regular season, the Mustangs knew they were going to need to play great hockey for a full 60 minutes or more against a disciplined Valiant team. On Wednesday evening, the game did not go the way the Mustangs had hoped, losing 4-1 to the Valiants on home ice. Two first period goals from AJ Bella helped the visitors to a 3-0 lead which expanded to 4-0 before Frank Vitucci broke the shutout in the final minute of the very physical game.
“Our core group has helped build something great here and we all have come to this relatively new program to build a championship program,” said Dawes. “I know that is why I am here, and we have a very young group that will build on the experiences of the past two years and be a better team going forward.”
For the season, the Mustangs finished with an overall record of 18-7-1 while going 14-4-0 in the UCHC.
