money Ice hockey: Schelling gets 6 points in win over Mamaroneck to pass dad as top Suffern scorer
MONSEY — Suffern ice hockey coach Rob Schelling had a long time to adjust to the idea
It was when his son, Ryan, was an eighth-grader and one of his team's leading scorers that the elder Schelling realized the writing was on the wall.
And Ryan?
Well, he was thinking about it a lot longer than that.
The "it' was breaking his dad's Suffern High School ice hockey scoring record.
"My whole life I always thought of passing him," Ryan said.
Friday night at Sport-O-Rama, during an 11-2 rout of Mamaroneck, thought became reality.
The senior forward scored four times and added two assists to hit the 207-point mark.
His dad, who played for the Mounties 1986-'89, had 206 points.
"It's fun," Rob Schelling said of watching his son overtake him.
Turning point
If not fun, it was satisfying for Schelling to watch his high-octane team kick into high gear in the second period after leading 2-1 after one.
Suffern scored six times in the second period, while out-shooting the Tigers 21-6.
And none of these were cheap goals.
Player of the game
Schelling had the go-ahead goal in the first period on a beautiful individual effort that saw him carry the puck right to left into the zone, then along the left boards before he cut left to right across the top of the crease and buried his shot.
That was impressive and showcased his speed, shooting ability and strength on the puck
But it was Schelling's goal with his squad already up 7-1 in the second period that had even those familiar with the D-I Providence College commit's talent talking.
Colin Nolan took a pass from Ben Burns, moved along the blue line and rifled a shot on net .Schelling cut across in front of Tiger keeper Max Baker and redirected the puck in. It was a deflection possibly no goalie would have stopped.
By the numbers
Burns scored twice, once on a beautiful shot under the crossbar on a shorthanded breakaway off a Schelling feed. That was one of the two goals Suffern scored shorthanded in the second period in a span of less than a minute. The other was scored by Schelling off assists from Christopher Smith and Patrick Marina.
Jack Flatley, who opened the night's scoring off a Schelling feed, Wyatt Levy, Ayden Greenberg, Jake Rostawanik and Phillip McCarthy also scored for the Mounties.
Tyler Pomerantz and Marina both had two assists and Charlie Tyrrell, Harry Balk, Dan Greco, Nick Bonanno and Jake Santino each had one.
Kevin Torre scored both goals for Mamaroneck, his first off a rebound, knotting the game early in the first period at 1 off a rebound.
Despite the score and the poor save percentages, the Tigers got solid play out of their goalies, who were often left hung out to dry or had to find the puck through a mass of bodies.
Starter Max Baker, who yielded eight goals before being lifted, was credited with 25 stops. Many were high-percentage chances from in tight.
Todd Freifeld gave up three goals and had 14 saves.
For Suffern, Ty Levy yielded one goal and had 11 saves and Jimmy Rorro gave up one goal and had five saves.
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Quotables
Rob Schelling, who's in his 26th season as Mountie's coach, said his son is strong in all facets of the game and, "is a lot better hockey player than I was."
Of Ryan's highlight-reel score with the deflection, he pointed to Nolan's shot on net as indicative of his team's play.
"We have such good defensemen this year. They can shoot the puck. They're so offensive. We do a lot of that," he said of deflecting the puck off shots from the point.
Ryan Schelling also redirected credit, saying of that goal, "I have great teammates. Colin made a great play." He also cited Burns' pass back to Nolan as key..
Schelling's looking at Suffern's 4-0 start as a sign of things to come.
"This is definitely one of the best teams (I've been on)," he said. "This year we have everything. ... "We have such a good team from the goalies on out. When we're competing in all zones and clicking, I don't know there's another team that can stop us."
Next up
Mamaroneck, now 3-3, will play Horace Greeley Sunday at 8:15 p.m. at Brewster Ice Arena.
Suffern will host Scarsdale at 9:15 p.m. at Sport-O-Rama.
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: Schelling tops dad as top #1 Suffern scorer as Mounties win
