Woods helps Penguins ice red-hot Devils

At (4-1), the Penguins can move one step closer to securing a spot in the JCC of Bayonne’s Sr. Division Floor Hockey “Gold Medal” round with a victory over the (3-2) Devils. Jumping out to a 1-0 lead, the Penguins seemed to be right on track as Josh Greenbaum assisted CeeJay Larino on his 8th goal of the season. One minute after falling behind 1-0, the Devils’ offense caught fire as J.P. Egan (1 goal), Jake Nowak (2 goals, 1 assist), Ryan Giocoli (1 assist) and Elliott Santana (1 assist) fueled the flames as the Devils took a 3-1 lead. Stunned by the rapid fire pace of the Devils’ offense, the Penguins regrouped for a counter attack as Colin Woods led the charge with three goals and an assist while Marek Mickiewicz added a goal and an assist as the Penguins roared back to take a 5-3 advantage. While the Devils tried to rekindle their firestorm start, the Penguins’ defense dug in as James Bajor, Julian Giron, and Mackenzie Woods held the high ground and contained the Devils’ advance. With less than three minutes remaining, the Devils’ offense sparked up as a key save by Matt Doyle sent Alejandro Cifuentes, Jake Nowak, and Megan Feeley off to the races with a three on one fast break and in the wink of an eye a scoring blast by Feeley made it a 5-4 game with more than enough time remaining to tie up the brawl. Encased in a frantic pace, both squads put shots on net but in the end, the Penguins narrowly escaped with a 5-4 win.

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