Buffalo Tournament - 11/2/24 to 11/3/24
Twelve Dare Devils made the trek up to Buffalo for the annual Coach Mike Steffan Invitational Tournament. Despite the long drive, the weekend started off great when several members of the team watched the Buffalo Sabres take on the New York Islanders at KeyBank Center in Downtown Buffalo. The game featured a little bit of everything (big hits, fights and goals) and to the delight of Captain Ryan Griffin, the Fish Sticks narrowly escaped with a win. The Dare Devils had three games over the course of the weekend and were victorious in all contests, backed by steady goaltending from Taylor Esposito and great teamwork from the skaters. A special thank you goes out to the Buffalo Sabres Thunder for hosting such a first class event. We had a great time at the tournament and enjoyed the luncheon at the ballpark. Similar to last year, the coaching staff awarded stars of the game after each game. In addition to the game stars, the following Dare Devils were chosen as Stars of the Tournament: 3rd Star: James Cooney with 2 goals, 2 assists and great defense; 2nd Star: Shea Passikoff with 8 goals and 3 assists; Co 1st Stars: Captain Ryan Griffin with 2 goals, 13 assists and great defense and Superstar goalie Taylor Esposito with 3 victories while playing like his hero, Dominik Hasek. Below is a chronicle of each contest.
Dare Devils vs. The Buffalo Sabres Thunder Blue, 11/2/24 @ 9am:
The Dare Devils played a thriller against the host team in the opening game of the tournament. The game started as a goalie battle, with Dare Devils netminder Taylor Esposito making countless high danger saves. The teams traded chances in the early stages of the contest and Owen Silverstein netted the Dare Devils first score of the tournament off an assist from Captain Ryan Griffin. The game stayed close with the teams trading goals as the match progressed. Shea Passikoff scored the second NJ goal off an assist from Liam Smith, Captain Ryan Griffin blasted a snap shot into the upper corner following beautiful passing (assists going to Reese Citro and Aaron Quintana) and Patrick Law put the Dare Devils up by a score of 4 to 3 when he converted a beautiful goal assisted by Captain Ryan Griffin and Ayden Duran. However, the Sabres looked like they had the game wrapped up after they took a two goal lead with about 7 minutes left until the final buzzer. But the Dare Devils didn't drive all the way to Buffalo to give up and the team mounted a big comeback as the game wound down. Shea Passikoff buried a breakaway (assisted by Will Milazzo) to get the NJ squad within one and Liam Smith tied the score shortly thereafter by burying a wrist shot on the low blocker side of the talented Buffalo goalie. The game seemed like it would end in a tie until Will Milazzo gathered the puck on his own blue line and worked his way towards the Buffalo goal where he was able to seal the victory with a wrister into the corner of the net with about 17 seconds left on the scoreboard. In addition to the offensive heroics, James Cooney, Riley Chiselko Seickel, Reese Citro, Owen Silverstein and Captain Ryan Griffin all played spirited defensive games.
Stars of the game: 1st Star: Will Milazzo (game winning goal); 2nd Star: Taylor Esposito (unbelievable goal tending); 3rd Star: Owen Silverstein (goal and several great defensive plays)
Dare Devils vs. The Steel City Icebergs, 11/2/24 @ 2:30pm:
While the morning game was a defensive battle, our afternoon tilt against our friends from Pittsburgh was a wide-open contest with both teams trading chances throughout. Superstar goalie Taylor Esposito once again had to stand on his head to allow the Dare Devils to prevail in this contest. In addition to his stellar puck blocking, Esposito also contributed to the offense with an assist on NJ's opening goal. Even though the team didn't have their greatest defensive effort, they displayed great teamwork and were passing the puck to each other throughout the game. Following the lead of Captain Ryan Griffin, many of the Dare Devil players had great passing plays including beautiful assists from Reese Citro, Ayden Duran, James Cooney, Shea Passikoff, Aaron Quintana and Will Milazzo. The Dare Devils on the score sheet included Shea Passikoff with 5 goals and 2 assists, Patrick Law with 6 goals, Captain Ryan Griffin with 1 goal and 5 assists, Reese Citro with 2 goals and 4 assists, Owen Silverstein with 4 goals and 1 assist, Riley Chiselko Seickel with 4 goals, Liam Smith with 1 goal and 3 assists, Will Milazzo with 1 goal and 2 assists, James Cooney with 1 goal and 1 assist, Taylor Esposito with 1 assist, Ayden Duran with 1 assist and Aaron Quintana with 1 assist.
Stars of the game: 1st Star: Riley Chiselko Seickel; 2nd Star: Liam Smith; 3rd Star: Reese Citro
Dare Devils vs. The Albany Cougars, 11/3/24 @ 10am:
The Dare Devils continued to display great teamwork in their last game of the tournament while taking on the talented Cougar squad based out of New York's Capital Region. Following the lead of Captain Ryan Griffin, all of the Dare Devils players caught the sharing bug and went out of their way to make the extra pass throughout the game. Our heroes from NJ were once again led by the acrobatic goaltending of Taylor Esposito. Esposito flashed his cat-like glove on several occasions and showed great lateral movement in tracking the puck well all morning. The balanced performance of the team allowed them to narrowly squeak out a victory against the Cougars. James Cooney opened the scoring off an assist from Captain Ryan Griffin and New Jersey continued to keep the pressure on the strong Albany goaltender. Some highlights included a strong shift mid-game by rising star, Liam Smith. Liam took a crisp pass from Captain Ryan Griffin and flung a shot low blocker side to best the Cougar goalie, sprung Owen Silverstein with a beautiful red-line to blue-line pass and started a breakout that ultimately led to an Owen Silverstein goal - keep up the great work, Liam. Will Milazzo concluded his outstanding tournament by going from defense to offense by poke-checking the puck from a Cougar, turning up ice and snapping a shot into the upper corner of the net for one of the best goals of the weekend. The Dare Devils on the stat sheet were Captain Ryan Griffin with 1 goal and 5 assists, Patrick Law with 3 goals, Owen Silverstein with 1 goal and 2 assists, Shea Passikoff with 1 goal and 2 assists, Will Milazzo with 2 goals, James Cooney with 1 goal and 1 assist, Liam Smith with 1 goal and 1 assist, Aaron Quintana with 1 goal and Ayden Duran with 1 assist.
Stars of the game: 1st Star: Patrick Law; 2nd Star: Aaron Quintana; 3rd Star: Ayden Duran