Blake Humphrey scored three goals and Anthony Calafiore had four points to help lead the Titans to a 9 – 2 rout of the visiting Danbury Jr. Hat Tricks to complete the weekend sweep between the teams. Three of the Titans nine goals on the evening were on the man advantage, giving them five in the two-game series.
Humphrey opened the scoring with 7:13 left in the first period. Zach Nazzarett brought the puck up into the offensive zone along the near side boards and passed it to Nick Seitz on his left at the top of the faceoff circle. As Seitz went behind the net, he passed it back to Nazzarrett who was to the right-hand side of the Hat Tricks net. Nazzarrett made a centering pass out front to a wide-open Humphrey in the slot and Humphrey redirected the biscuit past Jr. Hat Tricks goalie Josh Seeley to give the Titans a 1 – 0 lead.
The Titans doubled their lead just a minute and twenty-three seconds later. Calafiore picked up the loose puck at his own near side half wall and passed it up to Matthew Iasenza. The speedy forward from Pierrefonds, QC sped into another gear and raced to the Hat Tricks net. As he reached the cage, he went from his backhand to his forehand and shot the puck long side past Seeley for his ninth goal of the season.
A minute later Danbury cut their deficit in half. As the Tricks dumped the puck up high into the neutral zone, it was gloved down by Caleb Price. As the puck fell to Price’s skates, it was intercepted by Danbury’s Gabe Dombrowski who entered the offensive zone on a 2-on-1. As Dombrowski reached the far side faceoff dot, he took a shot that was save by Christian Stoever but the rebound came right out to Alex Krause who buried the puck past Stoever for his ninth goal of the season.
The Titans then went onto score four unanswered goals in the second period.
At 6:33 into the middle stanza, the Jr. Hat Tricks were assessed a penalty for too many men on the ice. Twenty-three seconds later the Titans regained their two-goal lead. After a Danbury shorthanded attempt failed, Calafiore picked up the loose puck at the top of his own far side faceoff circle and skated through center ice and to the offensive zone. As Calafiore gained the line on a 3-on-2, he passed the puck to Jake LaRusso on his left. LaRusso sent a cross-ice pass to Nazzarett just below the far side faceoff dot, and Nazzaratt made a centering pass out front to Calafiore who buried the puck into the empty on a beautiful tic-tac-toe goal to make a 3 – 1 game.
Captain Jake Suede scored his eleventh goal of the season with 6:45 left in the second to make it a 4 – 1 game. As Nazzarett’s hooking penalty was expiring and the Tricks pressuring inside the Titans zone, a Danbury player made a far side centering pass out front that bounced off the near side half wall boards right to Suede at the top of his own point. As Suede entered the offensive zone on a breakaway, he went from his forehand to his backhand and to his forehand and took a shot that hit off the near side post and into the net past Seeley.
Danbury’s Jackson Hughes was called for boarding and given a game misconduct after he hit LaRusso from behind after a stoppage of play with 4:19 remaining in the second to give the Titans the man advantage.
Humphrey scored his second goal, and the Titans second on the powerplay, of the game with 3:30 left in the period. Evan Werner picked up the loose puck at the left side of the Tricks net and circled to the front of the slot. As he reached the middle of the slot, he passed the puck over to Seitz on his right. Seitz took a shot that was blocked out front, but the rebound was tapped in by Humphrey past Seeley.
Thirty-three seconds later LaRusso made it 6 – 1. After Calafiore stripped Danbury’s Andrew Eberling off the puck just outside the Tricks zone, he gained the line and entered the offensive zone on a 3-on-1. with LaRusso on his right. Calafiore passed the puck over to LaRusso and the Colts Neck, NJ native took a wrist shot from the faceoff dot that beat Seeley long side for LaRusso’s sixteenth goal of the season.
Danbury’s Levi Stauber scored a powerplay at 9:38 into the third period to make it a 6 – 2 game but Josh Rule, Humphrey and Anthony Mollica would lite the lamp to close out the scoring to give the Titans the 9 – 2 victory.
Stoever stopped 35 of 37 shots while Danbury’s Seeley and Andrew Pichora combined to stop 26 of 35. Click here for the box score.
The Titans now have five game remaining in the regular season – all of them on the road. They will play a two-game series against the Maryland Black Bears starting on Thursday. They then will play the Hat Tricks on May 4 and close out the season against the Northeast Generals beginning May 7.