The powerful first line of the Rome Free Academy hockey squad struck like lightning once again on Tuesday as the Black Knights rolled on to a 6-4 win over Hamilton in a Division II East contest at Kennedy Arena.
The division contest was more decisive on the Black Knights’ side than what the score indicated, with the top line of Max Bartell and Reilley brothers T.J. and Garrett doing what they do best.
RFA took it to 4-7-1 overall Hamilton in the first two periods, with the Black Knights picking up a 5-1 lead after two periods before being outscored 3-1 by the time the final buzzer sounded.
T.J. Reilley led the way for the hosts by tallying a three-goal hat trick as he followed up on last Tuesday’s four-goal top ha" performance. He now has a team-high 18 goals on the year.
"We definitely took it to them the first two periods but we kind of went off in the third period," T.J. Reilley said. "We definitely playing better defense though but we’ve got to let up less shots and keep it going."
Bartell also secured two goals and three assists, with Garrett Reilley also contributing with a goal and two assists for the team’s second straight win as RFA increased its record to 6-2 in the division and 7-4-1 overall.
Bartell opened up the scoring, with his first goal coming off a breakaway off a pass by Matt DeMatteo from behind the RFA blue line into Hamilton territory to start it off at the 9:39 mark. He wasn’t finished as he soon collected his 13th goal of the season 25 seconds later off assists from T.J. and Joey Rutkowski to give RFA a 2-0 lead by the end of the first period.
"We’ve been working a lot in practice which pays off when we get wins like this," Bartell said. "We’ve been doing good so it’s good to get rolling."
Hamilton did respond in the second period with a goal of their own from Derrick Rogers on assists from Alex Brink and Kam Mikula but then afterwards it was all Reilley brothers the rest of the way.
T.J. came back nearly two minutes after Spellicy’s score with his first goal of the night off an assist from Garrett then later with his second goal off an assist from Bartell and Kyle Williams at the 7:17 mark. Then for the final goal of the period, Garrett Reilley fired in one on the power play off an assist from Bartell two seconds later after Hamilton’s Blaine Holcomb was called for a tripping penalty to make it 5-1 RFA. The goal would also knock out Hamilton goalie Brendon Rusch who finished with 22 saves.
T.J. Reilley would finish off the Black Knights’ scoring with assists from Bartell and Garrett Reilley with 43 seconds into the third period. "When I put them together I said if you’re going to go you got to do your thing out there," said RFA head coach Greg Cuthbertson referring to his front line. "If they score a goal here or there, it’s a bonus but that line is pretty dangerous when they get going, and they know what they got to do to get going."
Hamilton pulled out three straight goals to end the contest with the first off the stick of Mikula with Rogers assisting at the 10:25 mark followed by two power play goals from Brink within the last minute of the fourth.
Brady Carroll finished in the net with 16 saves in relief with the one goal by T.J. Reilley allowed.
Cuthbertson said improvements have been made on the defensive side of the Black Knights but it’s still a work in progress. "We’ve been focusing a lot on our defensive end and we’re getting there," he said. "We got some young guys that aren’t sure of the philosophy and what to do but they’re getting there and that’s what we want them to do. Keep learning, keep going and keep getting better," he added.
RFA goaltender Mike Endres received his fourth win of the season, posting 32 saves.
Cuthbertson added that being outscored in the third period is something that has to be addressed but he didn’t want to take anything away from Hamilton, who didn’t quit.
"They’re a gritty team and I thought they did some nice things out there," he said. "But still one of our goals is to win the third period and we didn’t do it. I don’t care who’s out there or who’s playing, the goal is to win the third period."
Cuthbertson also mentioned that despite the lapse in the third period he was still happy with the squad picking up the league win. "That was our focus today," he said. "I thought the first two periods we played some good hockey and did some good things. Overall it was a good effort."
The Black Knights will now travel northward for a two-game weekend series. Rome will play Ogdensburg on Friday at 6:30 p.m. before taking on Salmon River on Saturday afternoon at 1
