Playing in his first varsity hockey game, Hilton sophomore Curtis Acker stopped all 30 shots he faced while classmate Frank Gaffney scored one goal with two assists as Hilton began their 2013-14 season with a 4-0 shutout at Brockport.
The Cadets top line connected for the first goal of the game with a perfect triangular pass play with Austin Bull tapping the puck into a wide-open net after receiving a cross-crease pass from Gaffney, who got a pass from Sean Robson.
With just 28 seconds remaining in the first period, Gaffney sent Robson in on a breakaway and he found the net lower stick side to put the Cadets up 2-0 after one period.
Hilton senior defenseman Alex Whitehair preserved the shutout by sweeping away a puck right on the goal-line early in the second period and then helped kill off an extended Brockport power play that featured 19 seconds of 5-on-3.
Seconds after the Blue Devils power play expired, Cadets junior Todd Higgins dug the puck out of the corner, defenseman Zach Granby kept it in at the point and Higgins shot it short-side for a 3-0 lead at 12:04 of the second period.
Brockport had three power plays in the third period and Brandon Henshaw hit the crossbar and a post, but Hilton capped the scoring at 12:54 of the final stanza as Gaffney beat his man to the puck behind the Brockport net and fed the puck in front where it hit a Blue Devils defenseman and went in for an unassisted shorthanded tally.
Hilton used an aggressive fore-check to keep the puck in the Brockport end of the rink for extended periods of time which helped dictate the outcome. “Our best quality is our team speed and we let the horses run and be relentless,” said Cadets head coach Chris Monfiletto. “Whitehair did an unbelievable job on Henshaw, who is a great player, and the whole team bought in to keeping him and others on the perimeter.”
Hilton has five games scheduled prior to their contest with Irondequoit as part of the Frozen Frontier event December 21 at 1 p.m.
12/8/13
