Robert Hyde had a pair of goals to help lead the Titans to a 5 – 2 win over the visiting Danbury Jr. Hat Tricks. Ben Muthersbaugh, Michael Young and Anthony Calafiore also scored.
Young opened the scoring at 9:57 into the first period. Sylas Oberting started the play at the top of his own far side faceoff circle and he sent a long, cross-ice stretch pass to Brady Hildreth just outside the Tricks zone. As Hildreth gained the line, he chipped a pass to Levente Keresztes on his left who was to Hildreth’s left. As Keresztes took a stride, he passed it over to Young on his left, and Young took a wrist shot from the far side faceoff circle that beat Hat Tricks goaltender Patriks Berzins short side for Young’s sixth goal of the season.
Less than a minute later Hyde scored his first goal of the game to double the Titans lead. After Berzins made a save, the rebound came out to Hyde at the far side faceoff circle, and Hyde sent the biscuit back to Hyde. As Hyde went towards the net, he took a wrist shot that beat Berzins high, short side to make it a 2 – 0 game.
Calafiore gave the Titans a commanding 3 – 0 lead midway through the middle stanza. After Eric Charpentier brought the puck into the offensive zone along the far side wall, he made a centering pass to Calafiore at the top of the slot, and the team captain took a shot that went wide of the net but the rebound was picked up by Charpentier who had circled behind and around the Danbury net. As Charpentier reached the near side faceoff to, he turned 180 degrees and he passed it out front to Calafiore in the slot, and the Staten island, NY native redirected the puck past Berzins and into the net for Calafiore’s sixth goal of the season.
Danbury’s Logan Furstenau broke Titans netminder Marino Ramirez shutout bid with five minutes remaining in the second period. After Danbury’s Ivan Korodiuk picked up the loose puck outside of a scrum in the Titans near side corner, Korodiuk skated along the end wall and started to circle behind the Titans net and to the right of Ramirez. As Korodiuk crossed the goal line, he passed it to a wide open Furstenau in the slot and Furstenau took a wrist shot that beat Ramirez long side to make it a 3 – 1 game.
Muthersbaugh made it 4 – 1 just 2:31 into the final period. Brendan Dumas picked up the loose puck at center ice along the near side boards and cut towards the middle of the rink. As Dumas gained the line, he passed it to Muthersbaugh on his left. As Muthersbaugh stepped up in the far side faceoff circle, he simply took a wrist shot that beat Berzins long side for Muthersbaugh’s eighth goal of the season.
Hyde scored his second goal of the game at 6:13 into the third on a wrist shot from the top of the slot that beat Berzins long side to make it 5 – 1. Danbury’s Ryan Johnson lit the lamp with five minutes remaining in the game to make it 5 – 2 and close out the scoring.
Ramirez, who improved his record to 2 – 1 on the season, stopped 18 of 20 shots while Berzins turned aside 33 of 38. Click here for the complete box score.
The teams will play game two of this weekend series tonight at the Middletown Sports Complex.