Ice Hockey – Varsity vs Rye Country Day School – Away

V Ice Hockey

KO Hockey traveled to Rye Country Day this past Wednesday for a midweek afternoon game. Rye would jump out early in the 1st period, scoring two goals in the 1st 5 mins of the game, setting the Wyverns on their heels. But as the KO Hockey team had already shown this season, they are an incredibly resilient group. Tenacious play and Solid goaltending in the 2nd half of the period brought confidence. Dalton Smith ’26 would find the mesh for the Wyverns with just under 7 mins to go in the Period. Hayden Liddy ’27 and Julia Stepnowski ’28 would tally the assists on the Smith ’26 goal. 3 mins later, Colton Bishoff would net the 2nd KO goal of the period on a pass from Enzo Andrew ’27 to bring the Wyvern even at the end of the 1st period.

Despite injury and fatigue, the KO Team would continue to battle a larger and physical Rye squad. The early half of the 2nd period would find KO in a battle in their defensive end. Despite the strong push by Rye, the KO defense would hold, primarily due to the stellar play of Goalie Shane Smith ’26. KO would rally again at 8:39 left in the period when Bishoff ’26 would again score off of passes from Hayden Liddy ’27 and Alex Oliveira ’25, to put KO up 3-2. The Wyverns would score again just prior to the end of 2nd period when Oliveira ’25 and Bishoff ’26 would feed Krish Patel ’26 for the 2nd goal of the period, Putting KO up 4-2 at the end of the 2nd.

A hard fought battle and effort prior to the 2nd period by Bryce Schaller ’29 would give the KO skaters a 4 min power play opportunity to start the 3rd period. The Power play unit would go to work and would find the net again less than one minute into the period. Colton Bishoff would complete the Hat-trick on a shot from the left side of the formation and would hit the upper right corner of the Rye goalies shoulder for his 3rd goal of the game. Official scoring gave assists to Krish Patel ’26 and Ryan Munz ’26 but Oliveira ’25 and Smith ’26 were also key in the execution of the Power-play.

With Ko now up 5-2 sitting on a commanding league, the team would take on a defensive posture and not giving easy opportunities to Rye. Despite giving up a goal to Rye at the 10 min mark, the KO Defense was stellar. With 3:29 left in the 3rd and a 5-3 score, Rye would empty their net, opting for a 6th skater to put the pressure on KO. But the strategy would backfire in the KO end as Bishoff ‘ 26 would create a turnover and send the puck 165 feet down the ice into the empty Rye net. The game would end in a 6-3 final.

Shane Smith would earn a game puck for this outstanding performance in net with strong support from the KO Defensive unit.

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Away
(League)
Win
KO: 6 – Rye Country Day School: 3
Location: Rye Country Day School
Directions: Follow I-84, CT-8 S and I-95 S to 72/Midland Ave in Rye. Take exit 21 from I-95 S