Editors’ Note: All photos are credited to Josie Kim (@Jkimphotography)
If you haven’t been living under a rock, you’ll have heard of last week’s fierce hockey grudge match. That’s right – I’m talking about the brand-new Four Nations Face-Off, an international hockey tournament between NHL players from Canada, Finland, Sweden and the US, culminating with Canada beating the US in a dramatic, politically charged 3-2 overtime win. On a smaller scale, the Fieldston Eagles played the Riverdale Falcons on Friday.
For many Fieldston students, sports games are very distant. Other than the occasional assembly announcement or email from athletic director Gus Ornstein, it’s easy to ignore the athletic scene entirely. But for one night each year, the school gathers to cheer on our ice hockey team at the Birds of Prey Game against Riverdale.
Full transparency: despite my being a Junior, this was my first year attending the Birds of Prey Game. I’m not much of a sports fan myself, but I decided that it could be a fun opportunity to take the pulse of both schools and see how our rivalry affects the game, the players and the crowd. Actually, I reached out to Riverdale’s newspaper in advance about writing a joint piece on the game, but they had already assigned the article and seemed nonplussed about the idea.
I arrived at Chelsea Piers half an hour before the game, and the stands were already beginning to fill up. Parents, students and teachers were gathered, talking to each other animatedly. There was a buzz in the air as both schools waited for the game to start, and as people kept crowding in, it seemed like the time would never come. While I can’t comment on Riverdale faculty members, there was a respectable faculty turnout from Fieldston, including Assistant Principal for Student Life Rashad Randolph and Form V Dean Vincent Drybala.
Finally, at 7:00, the teams took the ice and were met with cheering and booing. From the very start, Riverdale exerted its dominance – they had the Riverdale Falcon with them, but our Fieldston Eagle was nowhere to be seen.
There was a 15-minute practice session as the crowd sang and grooved along to classic high-energy songs like Party Rockers, Seven-Nation Army and AC/DC’s Thunderstruck, and then we were off to the races. Unfortunately, not even a minute after the game began, Riverdale scored, starting the night off strong.
Riverdale got another goal before Fieldston managed to score its first, but the applause was all the more energetic because of it. Fieldston’s first goal was scored by Luca Loconte (Form III) and met with chants of “He’s a Freshman!” The points began to go back and forth: Fieldston scored again, then both teams scored in quick succession, followed by Riverdale getting another goal. At the end of the first period, Fieldston was down 4-3 – and we had already scored as many goals as we did in last year’s game. But going into the second period, Fieldston wasn’t giving up.
Once again, Riverdale scored a demoralizingly fast goal, and even when Fieldston was on offense, the Falcons’ defense held strong – three close shot attempts, one after another, were blocked by Riverdale’s goalie. Nonetheless, on the fourth try, Jack McCummings (Form V) finally managed to score, bringing it to 5-4. The crowd went wild, knowing that we’d managed to score two goals in a row earlier and seeing victory within reach, but it wasn’t meant to be. 20 minutes later, Riverdale broke out of an intense back-and-forth with back-to-back goals, and even though we managed to score once more with 8:30 remaining, it was too little, too late. The final score was 7-5 Riverdale.
“Whoever has the best goaltender and defense is going to win,” said Avi Subramanian, one of two freshmen on the team. And he was right – there were a lot of shots made on both goals, but at the end of the day, Riverdale simply blocked more of them.
While this loss is disappointing, it’s also not a bad showing for Fieldston’s Varsity Ice Hockey team. Since the Birds of Prey Game began in 2022, our ice hockey teams have clashed nine times, and this is the second-closest we’ve gotten to beating them, with the closest being a 5-5 tie in ‘23-’24.
Unfortunately, following the 5-2 loss to Riverdale on Wednesday in the Big Apple Hockey League playoffs, Boys Varsity Ice Hockey is done for the season. However, we still put up a good showing – and there’s always next year.
Go Eagles!
