Pelicans Ice Hockey Team Victorious in Season Finale 5-3 Win Against Mahopac

The Pelicans readied themselves for next week’s ice hockey playoffs by beating Mahopac 5-3 in a game where they got out to an early lead and never looked back.

The Pelicans were 8-10-1 going into Thursday's game, having lost four straight games on a grueling road trip that took them across upstate New York. The PMHS team faced off against another serious competitor. Mahopac is seeded fourth in the Division-I playoff bracket behind White Plains, Mamaroneck and Suffern.

In the first period, Mahopac mostly kept the puck in Pelham’s zone, although both teams showed hustle going back and forth, taking turns beating each other down the ice.

Only 55 seconds into the period, however, Pelham struck first blood with a shorthanded goal by team co-captain Colin Reilly. Reilly went on to score two more goals, giving him the hat trick.

The second period came with a flurry of goals scored by the Pelicans--one at 42 seconds by Reilly, one at 4:22 by Tristan Weeks and Reilly’s hat trick goal at 5:19.

Pelham controlled the puck in Mahopac's zone, and as the period wore on and the goals piled up, Pelham also asserted itself as the more aggressive team on the ice. The Pelicans' hard-hitting body shots left many Mahopac players on their backs.

Halfway through, Mahopac was forced to change goalies on account of a 5-0 Pelham lead.

Mahopac managed to rack up three goals with nine minutes left to play in the game, scoring on a power-play. But, Pelham hung in there for the win, beating Mahopac 5-3 and now setting their sites on the playoffs.

Though Craig Nelson, who has a nephew on the team, was heartened by the win, he mentioned that the players still have quite a bit of work to do. "Two of the captains are banged up and this team will need the next few days to prepare for the playoffs,” Nelson noted.

You can catch the Pelicans in playoff action at home on Feb. 21 at 6 p.m. at the Ice Hutch.  The team's opponent hasn't yet been named.