Bedford 3, Monroe 1

When Bedford and Monroe meet in a sports contest, any sport, it’s like both teams see red.  Of course it’s the base color for both teams, but it goes way beyond color.  The two largest Monroe County schools go after each other for bragging rights.  Bedford now owns those rights in hockey after eking out a 3-1 hard fought victory.

The game started out as if the Mules were going to dominate the scoreboard.  Darryl Kuchcinski gave Bedford an early lead, assisted by Ian Andres and Jake Stark, just 95 seconds into the game.  Six minutes later Stark made it 2-0, assisted by Jonathan Rokicki, on a power play.  But then things changed.  Maybe the Mules thought this one was already over, but someone forgot to tell that to Monroe.

The Trojans came out in the second period and clearly controlled the play, outshooting Bedford 21-7, but only managing one goal on a power play as Mule goalkeeper Ethan Moore stood tall.  Monroe’s goal came with three minutes left in the period to make it a 2-1 game at the break.

Fortunately Bedford got the message that this was going to need a total team effort.  Play went back and forth in the third period, and finally the Mules picked up another power play goal, Jacob Schulty from Matt Dulbs, with three minutes left to provide some breathing room.