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Ainbinder, Baldwin top Kellenberg
Mike Ainbinder has started to make it a habit of scoring goals in bunches this season.
Albeit just two games into the 2012 campaign, the star senior scored four goals and upped his season total to seven as Baldwin defeated Kellenberg, 9-8 in a non-league contest featured on MSGVarsity.com Camera One Livecast.
Ainbinder, who scored a hat trick in the Bruins season-opener loss to Long Beach needed just two quarters to pot his second-straight three-goal game.
With Baldwin down 3-1 to Kellenberg after the first four minutes, Ainbinder took advantage of a defensive miscue following a missed steal attempt. The aggressive attack had a clear path to the net and fired a bullet top corner past Kellenberg goaltender Tyler Steimel.
Ainbinder didn’t waste any time to even things up and got Baldwin even with Kellenberg just 2:23 into the second quarter, taking a centering pass from Austin Valenti and let another quick wrister fly into the back of the Kellenberg net to even things up at 3-3.
From there on in, it was truly anyone’s game.
Valenti put Baldwin up on the scoreboard, 4-3 just four minutes later with a man-up tally for the Bruins’ first lead since he opened up the game’s scoring. Kellenberg then answered with two goals of its own from Joe Rizzotti and Matt McDaniels, the latter tally coming with 18.5 seconds remaining, to retake the lead at 5-4.
Baldwin again quickly answered back and refused to head into the half down on the scoreboard as Ainbinder notched his second-straight hat trick with 5.8 seconds left in the second stanza with a low bullet to send both teams into the half at 5-5.
Kellenberg and Baldwin exchanged goals yet again coming out of the half as Tom Stackpole and Valenti both notched tallies just 28 seconds apart to increase the equalized contest to 6-6.
Stackpole gave Kellenberg the lead once again just over a minute later on a man up situation with a shot from ten yards out that found the top right corner to give the Firebirds a 7-6 lead.
What happened next was something that you only see once or twice a season.
With 1:25 remaining, Baldwin goaltender Brett Dadiego noticed a hole up the middle of the field and kept going. Uncontested with the ball, Dadiego kept going so much to the fact he went coast-to-coast and fired a shot through Steimel’s legs to even things up at 7-7.
Dadiego, a senior, said after the game that it was his first goal since his freshman year.
Baldwin rode the momentum of Dadiego’s marker as just 20 seconds later Dylan Cohen gave Baldwin another rare lead to put the Bruins ahead 8-7.
Kellenberg this time had to play catch up in the fourth quarter. Rizzotti stepped up to the plate with 5:30 left to play by getting his own rebound off a Baldwin defenseman and firing a shot past a stunned Dadiego.
However, Ainbinder saved his best for last and just 50 seconds later gave Baldwin the lead for good. Using his patented quick wrist shot, the star attackman let a bullet rip top corner past Steimel’s stick to give the Bruins the 9-8 lead.
It would be a lead that would hold on for the Bruins first win of the season.
Baldwin improved to 1-1 while Kellenberg drops to 0-2 as coach Mike Schwalje still looks for his first win as Kellenberg head coach.
