WATERTOWN – It took yet one more Herculean effort down the stretch amid a defensive dogfight, however the Arlington boys hockey crew can formally examine off one in all its three main ambitions from the preseason after Sunday afternoon.
Junior Kevin O’Connor ended a bruising marathon of buying and selling blocked pictures and stellar goalie play with No. 3 Hingham at John A. Ryan Arena, scoring with 24 seconds left in additional time to ship the No. 4 Spy Ponders a 1-0 win and the Doherty division championship throughout the Ed Burns Coffee Pot Tournament. Senior goalie Jake Davies gained finals MVP with a 26-save shutout, together with three important stops in additional time.
Arlington has wanted additional time to beat all three opponents within the event named after this system’s legendary coach. But to only get the job carried out was a proud second for head coach John Messuri.
“We definitely talked about (how) it’s kind of our tournament,” he mentioned. “We’ve got to make a stand, and it ain’t easy making a stand against Hingham. … Three goals at the beginning of the year, this knocks off one of them. Two more to go.”
After 49 minutes of each groups snuffing out nearly all of rebound alternatives, Arlington discovered a strategy to generate only one extra on the most important time.
Drew Fecteau and Ryan Gilbert beat the Hingham backcheck in a race to the puck on the proper offensive faceoff circle. Fecteau cut up to skate throughout the crease, and Gilbert put a shot on the pads that floated to the surface of the publish. Fecteau seemed to be pushed into Hingham goalie Luke McLellan’s stick, knocking him off stability. O’Connor trailed, snagged the puck, and someway squeezed it previous the sitting McLellan (19 saves) simply contained in the publish for the win.
It solely made it that a lot sweeter that Messuri had simply talked to him about what to do when the same play opened up for him only a couple shifts prior.
“I took that (conversation) into overtime,” O’Connor mentioned. “I got out there at the end and I just saw it, stopped on it and just put it home.”
Neither crew might get lots of these scoring possibilities all through, with each defenses shortly defusing any potential threats. Hingham seemed like it could break by way of at any second in an influence play to finish the primary interval and inside a powerful burst to begin the second, however Arlington was particularly lively in blocking pictures – one thing everybody on the crew places an enormous emphasis on each recreation. Davies wolfed up all the remainder.
The second a part of the Ed Burns Tournament finals doubleheader proved to be a a lot completely different recreation, as No. 17 Tewksbury utilized an offensive explosion to safe the Brinn division title.
With three targets within the second interval and two extra within the closing body, the Redmen overpowered Winchester with a 6-1 win amid an extremely chippy affair. Tyler Barnes scored twice en path to successful the finals MVP award, together with the go-ahead aim simply 19 seconds into the second interval.
Matthew Cooke and Jeremy Insogna added a aim and help every in Tewksbury’s twelfth straight win, whereas Ben O’Keefe picked up 20 saves to carry off a number of vicious responses from the Red and Black.
For as dominant as Tewksbury seemed within the opening minutes, Winchester someway broke up a bevy of harmful scoring possibilities to maintain it scoreless within the opening seven minutes. The Red and Black threatened a lot on their very own, leaving little shock to Danny Collins tying the sport for Winchester after freshman Jackson Feudo had given the Redmen the lead.
But by skating three traces quick and laborious, the Redmen shortly wore Winchester down.
Barnes’ first aim not solely gave them the 2-1 lead, but additionally opened the floodgates. Brady Chapman tipped in Cooper Robillard’s shot from the purpose to make it 3-1 with 1:52 left within the second, and Cooke wanted solely 25 seconds to attain for a 4-1 lead.
Frustration penalties began to fly, opening the door for Barnes’ second aim simply three minutes into the third off a cross from Insogna. He buried the ultimate aim 5 minutes later to slam the door shut.
“We play three lines, we try to go 1-2-3, 1-2-3,” Doherty mentioned. “I think that wears teams down. … My goal was to try to wear them down. I feel very comfortable with putting any of our lines out there.”
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