One year after watching from the sidelines, Jackson Austin delivered the biggest goal of his life.
Austin, who didn’t suit up during the Bellmore-Merrick Bulldogs’ hockey county championship run last season, deflected home the tiebreaking goal with 2:52 remaining in regulation to lift the team to its first New York State title with a 4-2 win over St. Francis Prep of Buffalo at SUNY Broome Community College in Binghamton on March 1.
Austin also assisted on AMax Vitale’s empty-netter with 83 seconds left as the Bulldogs capped a perfect 5-0 run through the eight-team tournament.
Henry Lagalia made 16 of his 32 saves in the third period, and Jourdan Luskoff and defenseman Luke Tepfer also scored for Bellmore-Merrick, which will travel to Plymouth, Minnesota, to compete in the national tournament from March 18-22.
“I mean, it can't be any better than that,” coach Patrick Braglia said. “The goal is to win and to win in the fashion [that we did]. To play five games over the course of three games, three days, it's pretty taxing on the boys, but for them to come out and go 5-0, it's pretty amazing.”
The Bulldogs led 2-1 with just over seven minutes remaining in the third period but encountered a bit of misfortune that allowed St. Francis Prep to tie the game. A Bellmore-Merrick clearing attempt glanced off a referee in the left corner, and the puck bounced to Red Raiders forward Troy Massey near the bottom of the faceoff circle for a tying goal.
The play was particularly ironic — Austin had attempted the clearing pass that deflected off the referee. Lagalia responded with glove saves on shots by Hayden Cole and Liam Fattey over the next two minutes, setting the stage for Austin’s heroics.
After a pair of failed clearing attempts by St. Francis Prep, Harrison Nawrocki held the puck in at the right point and fired a wrist shot toward the net. Austin, positioned in the right circle, tipped the puck past goaltender Gabriel Waterman.
“Harrison Nawrocki took a perfect shot from the point — nice and low, great for a deflection,” Austin said. “I got a good stick on it, and it took a good bounce.”
Austin finished the tournament with two goals and six points after scoring three times during the regular season.
Bellmore-Merrick also defeated St. Anthony’s, 4-2, on Feb. 27 before beating St. Francis Prep and Saugerties by 6-1 and 4-3 scores, respectively, the next day. The Bulldogs then knocked off Long Beach, 8-4, earlier on March 1 to reach the final.
The victory over Long Beach was particularly satisfying after the Marines handed Bellmore-Merrick its only regular-season loss and swept the Bulldogs in the best-of-three Nassau County championship series.
“It felt so good,” Austin said. “We were going at them all season. We were on a little rough patch there, but we came through when it mattered.”
Vitale finished the tournament with six goals in four games, including a hat trick against Long Beach. Luskoff also scored six times, Liam Young added five goals with two assists, and Chase Goldman had four goals and nine points.
