Heat Sets Sights on Putting the Game Away Against Syracuse

By Maximilian Stevens | harrisburgheat.com

It’s hard to believe, but a quarter of the Harrisburg Heat’s season is in the books.  A tight 3-2 overtime home loss last Saturday, in which the Heat were in control in the first half, marked the end of the first quarter of the season.  It leaves the team in second place in the East Division by virtue of it’s head to head victory over Florida with a 2-3 record.

As with any team there are things that the head coach is pleased with and other areas where he would like to see improvement.  On the plus side he sees a lot of potential and feels like his club’s goal of a spot in the post season is very much attainable.  But to punch the ticket to his team’s post-season dreams, he would like to see his team finish more of it’s scoring chances, which will in turn help it close out opponents on the score board.

Heat head coach Denison Cabral says the team has spent it’s entire week of practice on fishing both goals and games.

“I like the potential,” he said.  “There’s a lot of good things that can happen if we continue the way we are working, we wanted to fight for a playoff spot and I think we can.”

Cabral lamented the chance that slipped away from the Heat last weekend to put away a Cedar Rapids team who played the previous night when Harrisburg was leading 2-0 at the half.  If the team is to reach the potential he sees, it will need to put scoring chances in the back of the opposition’s net and win with more consistency.

“We watched the tapes and we just didn’t put it away,” Cabral said.  “We didn’t finish well enough, our focus this week was to not let it happen again.”

Lucio Gonzaga still leads the Heat with 7 points (5 goals 2 assists), Stephen Basso has 6 points (3 goals 3 assists), Tom Mellor has 5 points (2 goals 3 assists), and Ricardo Carvalho, Thiago Frietas, and Val Teixeira all have 4 points each.

Hugo DaSilva has a 2-2 record and a 4.22 goals against average so far this season and will get the start in goal against Syracuse Saturday.

Following a victory over Harrisburg in it’s home opener, Syracuse comes in having lost it’s last two contests by just one goal each against Florida and Cedar Rapids to end a 3 game home stand.  Saturday marks the Silver Knights first road contest of the season.

Syracuse will be looking to get out of the East Division basement with a record of 1-2, but it is such a tight race in the East and all of the teams are so competitive, no team can afford losses within the division.

Cabral remembers the game in Syracuse where Harrisburg controlled the first half, but lost to Silver Knights when they fought back in the second half.

“We respect them a lot,” Cabral said.  “We know that they are going to come out sharp and ready to play, we had a tough time playing them in Syracuse.”

Syracuse has three players with 5 points each, Kenardo Forbes, Moises Gonzalez, and Slavisa Ubiparipovic and 2 players with 4 points each, Jerjer Gibson and Joey Tavernese.  Goalie Andrew Coughlin sports a record of 1-2 with a 5.04 goals against average.

“We know it’s going to be a tough game, we are preparing ourselves to have a better result,” Cabral said.  “We went there and gave our best and it wasn’t enough, we will continue to do our best and hopefully it will be enough to win this game.”

Injuries have stacked up a bit for the Heat, some players are even playing hurt.  Cabral acknowledged he will have to do some juggling as the team was short-handed at practice this week.

“We have enough guys training since training camp started that I am creating opportunities for everybody,” he said of his roster.  “Anything that makes you not 100-percent healthy, some of them are going to have to suck it up and deal with the pain, that’s part of what we do, we are counting on everybody.”

Cabral said newly signed forward Elmo Neto was hurt in the second quarter of his first game with the Heat last Saturday.  He hopes Neto can heal fast enough to join the team when they visit Syracuse Friday December 23rd.

Saturday’s match also marks the return of former Heat player Patrick Thompson who is now with Syracuse.

Cabral talks a lot of the energy of protecting the Home Field and fans will feel the energy with the Be a Hero:  Make a Difference Night on Saturday.  With the Central PA Avengers superheroes on hand, they will raise money for Arthritis Foundation and National Lung Association.  PSECU is also sponsoring a free ice scraper giveaway to the first 500 fans.

Be a Hero and Make a Difference! The Heat Gives Back!