Jensen honored
by Warren Kozireski
Sophomore Austin Pieniaszek scored 3:43 into overtime to lift Hilton to their sixth win of the season in a 4-3 varsity hockey win over Bishop Kearney-Eastridge-Wayne.
The Kings tallied just 1:18 into the contest to take a 1-0 lead, but Hilton came back to tie later in the first when senior Andrew Agent scored an unassisted goal at 10:32. His innocent looking shot off a right faceoff circle draw somehow dribbled past the goaltender and into the net.
The Cadets took a 2-1 lead in the second period when their power play came through. Junior Taunce Graham skated out of the left corner and put a shot on goal that was stopped. The rebound went straight to Austin Bull who put it in the short side.
Hilton got themselves into penalty trouble in the period but the two forward units of Sean Robson with Pieniaszek and Bull with Kirk Carbone and the defense kept the Kings off the scoreboard for all six shorthanded minutes in the second.
In the third period, Hilton took a 3-1 lead on an offensive zone faceoff win by Carbone with defenseman Chris DiVasta moving in and blasting a shot into the net glove side for his second tally of the season.
The Kings scored twice within 1:35 later in the period to tie the game leading to the overtime winner.
After the Cadets killed another minor penalty in overtime, Agent took an extreme angle shot from the right wing boards that the BK goaltender thought he had covered up. But Pieniaszek, in his first game back after missing four games with an injury, found the puck loose in the crease and banged it home for his second overtime game-winner of the season.
Prior to the game, the Hilton hockey community honored Randy Jensen with a program dedication. The Hockey Boosters President was cited as being primarily responsible for saving the Hilton hockey program in potential budget cuts last spring.
