Kings Park/Commack Ousted By Middle Country

The dazzling duo of J.T. Hall and Tom Telesca was far too much for Kings Park/Commack to overcome without the help of the Twining brothers Wednesday night, as they fell in the SCHSHL quarterfinals, 9-4. 

Hall and Telesca, who carried the Cougars to their first league championship last season, each chipped in with two goals, while Telesca added four more assists.

"Their team is full of offensive power," said Kings Park/Commack head coach Dave Rysdyk. "We needed to backcheck and I think we slacked a little on that and they took advantage of our mistakes."

Kings Park/Commack has had to battle through playing without a full bench all season. Players missed games due to other commitments, injuries and suspensions. Their quarterfinal matchup with Middle Country was no different.

The team was forced to enter the playoffs without the Twining brothers, team captain Kyle and first-line winger Corey, due to suspensions. Corey was given a game misconduct in their regular season finale, a 6-5 loss to Arlington of the Hudson Valley league.

Kyle was suspended indefinitely by the league because he failed to appear at the interleague all-star game up in Hudson Valley. East Islip's Eric Gangi was also suspended and missed .

"When you’re missing two key players on your team it’s definitely going to hurt you," said Rysdyk. "It makes it tougher on everyone else. Everyone else has to step up their game. Everyone tried, they did their best out there."

 KPC jumped out to a 1-0 lead, on a goal by Brett Kaiser at 3:30. The lead was short-lived however, as Middle Country stormed back with five unanswered goals to end the first period.

The Cougars dominated the play following Kaiser's goal, holding a 43-23 shot advantage, forcing Mike Fazio to make a number of saves early to keep the deficit within reach. In all, Middle Country had four players with multi-point games, including Chris Stemke and Trevor Calleja in addition to Hall and Telesca.

The loss ended a season full of promise for KPC, though Rysdyk still considered the season a success.

"It’s a little disappointing, with the loss at the end and losing a couple games at the end [of the regular season]," he said. "But they were having fun out there, they’re a little cheery in the locker room, and that’s what it’s all about. It’s about having fun. If you walk away with a win every single game but you’re not having any fun, then why are you still playing?"