New England’s second-half come back carries the Black Wolves to a 12-8 victory over the New York Riptide on Friday, February 28, at NYCB Live.
The Black Wolves got on the board first with a goal by Callum Crawford. The Riptide would go on to score three unanswered goals by both Jean Luc-Chetner (11), Kieran Mcardle (9), and by Travis Longboat (5).
The Riptide went into the half, holding a 5-4 lead.
New England was able to shut down New York’s offense as they were held to zero goals in the third quarter. The Black Wolves scored four by Tony Malcom, Reilly O’ Connor, Crawford, and Stephan Leblanc.
Head Coach and General Manager Regy Thorpe says, “We played two really good quarters against a really good team in New England. We had a good shootaround today, good practice, and a good meeting last night. We were focused; they started to get some distance on us in the third quarter. We kept battling; we made it 9-7 at one point. We made a couple more mistakes, and good teams capitalize.”
Longboat registered his first career hat trick scoring three goals, and two assists earning him the third-star player of the game. “I felt I did pretty good. Finally, being on the scoreboard, I’m just trying to chip away on the offense and do whatever I can to help my team,” says Longboat.
The Riptide is set for a divisional road matchup tomorrow, February 29, as they will play the Rochester Knight Hawks. They will return home on Saturday, March 7, as they will host the Georgia Swarm, who was the opponent when the Riptide got their first-ever win in their franchise.
New England finished the game with three players recording hat tricks. Crawford found the back of the net three times and added five assists. O’Connor scored three goals along with three assists, and Joe Resetarits scored three goals and added three assists to his stat line.
With this loss, New York now falls to 1-10 on the season, while New England improves to 6-3 on the season. Thorpe says, “I’m proud of the way our guys keep fighting and improving. The last time we played these guys, we got ran out of the barn, and they scored 21 on us. Our defense stepped up today. We have to regroup and get ready for our game tomorrow against Rochester.”
