Canton arrived at this sport a yr in the past, solely to fall wanting the grand prize.
This time, the third-seeded Bulldogs bought the job carried out.
Canton (22-4) rallied from an early deficit to beat No. 8 Hopkinton, 4-1, to win the Div. 2 boys hockey state championship. It was the third title in 5 years for the Hockomock League energy.
“These guys put a lot of pressure on themselves,” Canton coach Brian Shulman mentioned. “They come from a town where they’ve been in the stands watching some kids older than them on the ice, raising that trophy. That’s their dream.”
The Bulldogs posted 4 totally different aim scorers and have been led by senior defenseman James Young with 4 assists and sophomore goalie Colin Davis with 16 saves. Despite the loss, Hopkinton senior goalie Jack Lang completed with a outstanding 29 saves.
“It feels amazing. Seeing everyone out there, we were not going to let what happened last year happen again,” mentioned senior ahead AJ Thomas on the euphoric win. “After they scored the first one, we were down a little but we weren’t going to let it go. We came together in the locker room, came out in the second and put it to them.”
Hopkinton (20-5) nabbed the early lead because of the opportunistic Pavit Mehra. The senior ahead crashed the online following a Cam MacPherson shot and punched within the rating previous Davis simply three minutes into the competition. The Hillers almost discovered their second simply minutes afterward a Ryan Teitel breakaway however Davis parried his shot huge.
AJ Thomas had Canton’s finest two probabilities of the interval, the closest coming off a expensive Hillers turnover in their very own zone. The senior ahead acquired the puck in entrance of internet however despatched his shot huge. Mehra had an opportunity to double the lead on the finish of the interval however this time was unable to dig out a rebound in entrance of internet that Davis parried away.
“I was the first person overreacting on the bench when we were missing the net,” Shuman mentioned. “But credit to the players, they stayed calm, cool and collected.”
Canton turned up the strain within the second and almost discovered their equalizer at the beginning. Colin Blake acquired the puck on the appropriate wing and fired at shot at Lang who made an unbelievable glove save to protect the lead. Hopkinton weathered the Canton storm and located just a few possibilities in transition, first from MacPherson who rang the crossbar on a breakaway and later Mehra who compelled an awesome kick save from Davis.
With the interval winding down, Canton lastly bested Lang. James Young despatched a shot previous the online which bounced round to Brendan Tourgee who punched it in for the equalizer. Seconds later, Brian Middleton fired a shot from the left wing via Lang’s legs to make it 2-1 with simply 33 seconds left within the body.
Down a aim, Hopkinton threw gamers ahead within the third hoping to stage the competition. Davis made two key stops on Joe Scardino and Mehra to maintain the Bulldogs forward. With three minutes left, Jeffrey Chaput alleviated the strain with a aim. The senior ahead crossed via the Hillers’ zone, acquired a tidy cross from an advancing AJ Thomas, and slotted a shot previous Lang. Minutes later, Thomas completed the scoring with an empty netter because the Canton half of the Garden erupted.
Source: www.bostonherald.com