With the middle of the standings crammed going into the last few months of the season, Saturday night’s tilt in Long Island saw two teams jockeying for position. The New York Riptide, who sat in the final playoff position, played host to a hungry Las Vegas Desert Dogs team who sat in 13th place, but was right in the thick of it.
This game had special meaning as well as it was Kick Out Cancer night and featured some pretty sweet sneaks on a few of the players. This game was in honor of the Tucker Williams Braver Than Brave Memorial Fund. As we know, Tucker was a brave young man that lost his battle to Burkitt’s Lymphoma at a young age, and is the son of Desert Dogs head coach, Shawn Williams. Not only did New York kick out cancer, they kicked Las Vegas out of their building, winning this one, 13-11.
The Desert Dogs came out and drew first blood, as John Wagner buried his first. Unfortunately for Las Vegas, that’d be it for the first quarter scoring. New York proceeded to rattle off four-in-a-row, scored by Kiel Matisz, Damon Edwards, Jeff Teat, and Larson Sundown on the power play. 4-1 Riptide after one. Side note: that name Sundown, you’ll be seeing that one a lot in this recap, as he had the game of his life.
Another one-goal quarter for Las Vegas wasn’t what they had in mind, but New York limited their chances with stifling defense, as well as Cameron Dunkerley playing out of his mind. The lone Desert Dogs goal was scored by Casey Jackson, who also had a whale of a game. New York buried three more in the second quarter to boost their lead going into the half. Scorers were, uh, well, Sundown…all three times, one of which was another power play tally. 7-2 New York at the break.
“I think we’re just moving the ball and playing for each other,” said Sundown at halftime. “Everyone has to bring their A-game. They (Las Vegas) are a good group, they’re well coached, so we’re going to have to bring our best.”
As we said, Dunkerley was a mad man in the first half, stopping 18 of 20. On the other side, Landon Kells had his moments where he was sparkling. He stopped 15 of 22.
After a pretty average first two quarters, the game really opened up in the third. Along with that, we saw quite the uptick in Las Vegas’ scoring, as they outscored New York 6-3 in the frame to mightily cut the deficit. Jack Hannah and Rob Hellyer scored the first two of the third quarter, and Teat had the answer. After Teat’s, Las Vegas buried three more in a row. Scorers were Connor Kirst and Jackson twice, giving him the hat trick. Two more from New York and one from Las Vegas was how the quarter ended. All of a sudden, it was 10-8 Riptide after three. The last Vegas goal was from Jackson, and the New York goals were by Sundown and Austin Madronic.
A solid third quarter for Las Vegas made a comeback really possible. What didn’t help the comeback was New York scoring the first two goals of the fourth quarter, one from Kevin Brownell, and the other from Sundown, giving him the sock trick. The crafty Las Vegas Desert Dogs certainly made it interesting as they responded with three-in-a-row. Scorers were arguably their big three, Hannah, Jackson, and Hellyer. Unfortunately for Las Vegas, that run was where the comeback fizzled out. Callum Jones buried an empty netter in the final minute to close this one out. Your final from Nassau Coliseum, 13-11 Riptide.
Players of the game for New York were Sundown (6+1), Teat (2+7) and Matisz (1+3). Dunkerley was a brick wall down the stretch, stopping 37 of 48 in total. For Las Vegas, it was their big three: Jackson (5+3), Hellyer (2+3) and Hannah (2+2). Kells did everything he could to pull off the comeback, stopping 35 of 47.
“Nothing changed, I just play with a group of selfless guys,” said Sundown. “I was fortunate that it was my night tonight, the guys found me in good positions.”
New York (6-7) snapped a three-game skid at probably the perfect time. They look to build off this win as they travel up north to take on Saskatchewan (4-6) this Saturday at 8:30 p.m. Las Vegas (4-8) has to go on a run of their own, or the playoffs may not be in their cards. Their next shot is this Friday at 10 p.m. as they travel to Vancouver (3-9).
