February 11, 2024

The Normandy Invaders hockey team completed a sweep of the Baron Cup Tournament over the weekend. The Invaders defeated Orange 2-1 and Solon 8-6 before beating Westlake 4-2 in the Championship game. In the semi-finals, the Invaders came back from a late 6-2 deficit with six unanswered goals. In the championship game, the Invaders received goals from Andrew Lane and Matt Nicholson as well as two goals from Derrik Pierce. Jason Nicholson turned away 31 Westlake shots in goal.

Westlake dominated the first few minutes of the championship game before the Invaders gained some footing, scoring on a Derrik Pierce goal with 4:47 left in the first period. Cooper Davis provided the assist. The Invaders doubled their lead just a minute into the second period when Andrew Lane beat the Westlake goalie over the shoulder for a 2-0 lead. Matt Nicholson gave the Invaders a 3-0 lead just two minutes later with assists going to Justin Sakeagak and Cooper Davis. With just 17 seconds left in the period the Demons climbed back into it after a turnover to score and head into intermission with a 3-1 score. The Invaders wasted little time with Pierce scoring 25 seconds into the final period to go up 4-1.

Normandy had a commanding 4-1 lead with 5:00 minutes remaining in the third period when the game became interesting.  Three penalties against the Invaders opened the door for Westlake to make a comeback.  The Demons scored 33 seconds into the first power play cutting the Invader lead to 4-2. Normandy would commit two more penalties within the next two minutes along with Westlake pulling their goalie giving the Demons a three player advantage with 1:05 remaining in regulation.  With only four players on the ice the Invader defense led by goalie Jason Nicholson shut down a barrage of attacks from the Westlake offense securing the victory.

The Invaders are now 22-7-1 on the season and Division and City Champions. This is the fifth Baron Cup Championship for the Invader hockey team since the inception of the tournament in 1972. The Invaders will next play Holy Name on Tuesday at the Brooklyn Rec Center at 7:45 in the first round of the state tournament.