SARATOGA SPRINGS — The No. 5 state ranked Blue Streaks ice hockey team takes their annual road trip west this weekend, as they further themselves against state-ranked competition.
Since the team’s 4-2 loss at Shenendehowa Dec. 19, the Saratoga Springs (8-2-2) hasn’t lost a game.
None of the games were cheapies.
With five wins and one tie in the last month’s stretch, the Streaks defeated No. 13 state ranked West Genesee (Section III) and No. 8 Suffern (Section I).
Head coach Dave Torres and his team beat both state ranked teams and Williamsville North (Section VI) in a four-day span.
“A turning point was that weekend,” said Torres who added that he believes his team is back on track. “That weekend we played three tough teams. Every program was a past state champion. If you were to have asked me before that weekend, ‘Are you going to go 3-0?’ I would say, ‘Probably not.’” But coming out 3-0 was a huge boost and now we’re being recognized in the state ranking, despite the tie to Pelham (2-2 on Jan. 11), which is a good thing for our guys. They’ve worked hard to earn that ranking and we’ll move forward.”
During that three-game stretch, each game was decided by one goal and factored in come-from-behind victories and an overtime win (Suffern).
“Those are the games that show true character and what you’re really made of,” Torres said. “The defense has to step up all the way around and the guys did that and faced the challenge. These guys are working really hard and they want it.”
In Wednesday’s game against Niskayuna/Schenectady, co-captain Elliot Hungerford sat his first game since playing varsity in eighth grade. With an injured shoulder sidelining him on a day-to-day basis, junior Josh Dagle took his place—and he stepped up.
Dagle found the back of the net three times. His hat-trick helped pave the way for a 6-4 victory. Co-captains Ian Frey and JT Rafferty each pitched in three assists to boot.
Hungerford will be re-evaluated at the end of this week. Torres was unsure of his No. 1 goal-scorer’s chances of playing this weekend as of Thursday morning.
This weekend pits Saratoga against more top teams in the state.
The team will depart for Rochester at 9:30 this morning (Jan. 16) and play Pittsford (Section V) at 5 p.m. Pittsford is ranked No. 11 in the state by the New York State Sportswriters Association with a 6-3-1 record.
The following day, the Streaks will leave their hotel and make the short trip to play No. 4 Fairport (Section V), who heads into the weekend with a 9-2-0 record and is coming off a state Frozen Four appearance last year.
With only five games remaining in the regular season after this weekend, Torres is quite aware that the final stretch is upon his guys and now is as good a time as any to play state-ranked competition.
“January goes pretty quick,” Torres said. “We come back and finish out our league schedule. It’s a good time to play these teams. If you’re lucky enough to make it to the state tournament, these are the teams you’re going to play. In my f years with the program, this is probably the toughest overall schedule we’ve had. If you want to get better, you have to play the top teams. It’s not about wins and losses. It’s how you play against top competition.”
Two years ago, the Streaks made the road trip west and lost to Pittsford 5-4 after trailing 5-2 going into the third period.
Two years ago, the Streaks made the road trip west and lost to Pittsford 5-4 after trailing 5-2 going into the third period. After that loss, they won 17 of their next 19 games on their way to a state championship and a 5-0 rout over McQuaid (Section V) in the final.
“Usually this road trip is our turning point to the season,” Torres said. “If history repeats itself, hopefully we’ll end up on the right end of the stick. Where we are right now, we’re just moving up the latter. We should be in the tournament, but it takes a lot of hard work to get there and some luck, as we’ve experienced in the past. We’re looking forward to the second half of the season.”
Note: Ranked No. 5 in the state overall, the Streaks are ranked No. 4 out of the public schools (No. 2 St. Joes belongs to the Catholic High School Athletic Association).
