Horn’s late goal lifts Portside Royals

By JONATHAN SKUZA

BROCKPORT, N.Y.— Every high school athlete dreams of his or her first varsity goal being special. Garrett Horn’s first varsity tally was sure remarkable as he scored the game-winning goal as the Portside Royals defeated the Canandaigua Braves, 5-4 Thursday night.

“Feels good,” Portside’s head coach Greg Stahl stated. “We got some work to do on giving up that lead and confidence a little bit. Some of our young wingers were giving up a little bit, but we responded every time they came back and challenged us. So that’s good character. We’ll take it.”

Horn ripped a shot from the point after Canandaigua turned the puck over and scored his special goal with 4:20 remaining in regulation to lift his team. The sophomore defenseman’s goal was the first Royals goal since late in the second period. The Braves had come back from being down two goals in the third period.

Fellow teammate Zachary Haines also scored his first varsity goal for the Royals to open up the scoring in Thursday’s contest. Haines’s goal started a period that saw three goals from Portside. Salvatore Balbi took advantage of a turnover and scored the second goal to give the Royals an early multi-goal lead.

“It’s huge,” Stahl said about Haines and Horn’s goals. “It’s something that the confidence level is big for those young guys. They’re battling for time. We got a lot of equals on our team. Some games some are looking better than others. We’re trying to acknowledge that so it’s good to see.”

Josh Barnes continued his point streak when he cut into the deficit for Canandaigua with a powerplay goal.

Frank Grad answered right back for the Royals with another goal scored off a turnover to regain their two-goal lead heading into the first intermission. Grad extended his point streak to three games with the goal.

DJ Spychalski buried home a beautiful feed from Maddox Smith in front of the Portside goal to cut the lead down to 3-2 with 1:15 left in the second period.

Zachary Neu answered back about 40 seconds later in the dying seconds of the second to give the Royals a two-goal cushion again.

Canandaigua’s comeback rally started with a Shae Joseph goal with 12:27 remaining in the game. Spychalski scored his second goal of the night with a great shot from a tough angle to tie the game for the Braves and shift the momentum of the game completely their way.

Horn’s goal sent the home fans happy as he contributed in a crucial spot when his team needed it.

“We’ve got offensive talent when we get rolling, but then sometimes you overhandle the puck,” Stahl stated about his team’s performance. “First period, we come out like we practiced and pass the puck and good things happen, but then individuals took over, so we’ve got to just keep it going next time. We haven’t strung three strong periods together yet.”

Portside has won three straight games since starting the season with a loss. The Royals are currently undefeated at home to start the new season.

Portside (3-1-0) returns to action on December 13th when they travel to Bill Gray Iceplex to take on Pittsford.

Canandaigua (2-3-1) takes the ice next when they travel to Webster to take on Webster Schroeder on December 14th.