PLATTSBURGH — Saturday was a rivalry game and an early CVAC contest for Beekmantown and Plattsburgh. But, the night was bigger than just a game. It was Hannah’s Hope Night.
Over the course of the night, the event raised $2,769 to bring the 11 year total over $30,000 dollars to help the Hannah’s Hope Fund, a nonprofit that raises money for giant axonal neuropathy, a disease that damages the nerves in the brain and spinal cord.
“It shows what the North Country is all about,” Eagles head coach Justin Frechette said. “You know, having gone through a personal tragedy in our own family, I know the power and what that does for a family to feel that support, and as every year goes on, to continue to have Hannah’s legacy and all the things that she represents is everything you want in a hockey player and in your hockey team.
“To see the crowd that we have tonight supporting the last 11 years has just been truly remarkable, but I think it really is a reflection of the North Country. I think we rally around one another when the chips are down. So I know it means a lot to her family, and means a lot to our program. and I can’t, I can’t believe we’re over a decade here in doing this. It is pretty incredible.”
The local impact of the Hannah’s Hope Fund is significant to both teams, as Plattsburgh High School alum Matthew Sames and Beekmantown High School graduate Lori Sames have a daughter, Hannah Sames, who was diagnosed with GAN when she was 4 years old.
“It’s a year-long effort to put on tonight,” Frechette said. “Hats off to Reagan Tetreault. She’s a mom in our program. It’s a year-long effort to get all those donations and all the baskets we had.
I can’t tell you how many varsity teams from Beekmantown all contributed baskets as teams. So it’s now become a whole school community that’s rallied around tonight. It’s about teaching those life lessons to these young men and kind of represents everything you want in your hockey team. and I think that is exactly how this started, and you see the community follow suit. It was just an absolutely great night. So there’s a lot of work that went into that lobby tonight by a lot of people, but Reagan Tetreault spearheaded it for us tonight, and it was really, really nice.”
Tetreault said after that Hannah is getting some treatment this summer to help with her voice and swallowing. If everything goes to plan, she’ll be at the game next year to sing the National Anthem.
“Tonight just shows the best of the North Country,” Frechette said. “Everyone rallies together. This is bigger than a hockey game.
“Obviously, the two league points in a hockey game is really important, but at the end of the day, we were all here to do something much bigger than all of us. and I know it means a lot to Hannah.”
While the festivities provided an entertaining atmosphere, the action on the ice added to it.
The Eagles and Hornets traded goals in the first period, in a frantic seven minutes that saw two lead changes and three ties.
Beekmantown’s Edward Sweenor, who had his stick in every goal for his team, said the team just needed to weather the storm.
“We knew coming into this game, we had to come out hard and fast,” he said. “We did just that. I feel like that we had a little slump in the middle.
“So we came together saying, ‘You just got to keep this up and not let another dip happen.’ I feel like you did great about that. Going to the second period, we had no dips. We killed off two big penalties for us. We just kept doing our thing. Got another goal, and it just all went up from there.”
After Sweenor’s two goals in the first period, he put the game winner in the net in the second period. Novak Jarus added an insurance goal in the third period to effectively put the game out of reach.
Sweenor said it was a combination of being in a groove and also the puck falling his way that led to his play Saturday.
“I was just feeling it because I knew this was a big game, and I felt really ready for it,” he said. I prepared that a lot. and I think our team really helped us come out strong with that Novak hitting with the back door pass, and then our power play just going to work and doing what we needed to do, and the puck just kept falling. It just felt good.”
Frechette said he was pleased with the way his team battled back against a very good Plattsburgh team and against a great goaltender in Plattsburgh’s Owen Chapple. In any contest like that, it boils down to momentum.
“You play a good team, they’re going to make plays,” he said. “How do you do something within your play to then get that momentum back? and that’s what you have to learn to do. If they make a play, and you put your head down, they’re going to continue to make those plays.
“And I thought we did a really good job when we gave them momentum on getting it back. and I thought that was the difference in the game. It was just a good high school hockey game, back and forth. I was just happy our kids fought tonight and continued to battle and were able to get momentum back. I think that was the key to the game.”
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Beekmantown 4, Plattsburgh 2
BCS 2 1 1 – 4
PHS 2 0 0 – 2
First Period- 1. BCS, Sweenor (Jarus, Rovers) :36. 2. PHS, Holland, 3:55. 3. PHS, Calkins (Laravia) 5:18. 4. BCS, Sweenor, PP (Broughton) 6:24.
Second Period- 5. BCS, Sweenor (Jarus, Nephew) 5:10.
Third Period- 6, BCS, Jarus (Sweenor, Nephew) 1:04.
Shots- Beekmantown, 33-31
Saves- Bell, BCS, 29. Chapple, PHS, 29