MIDDLETON – Slated with two video games in opposition to Catholic Conference powers after dropping the season-opener to Andover, there was an actual likelihood the Hingham boys hockey staff may have began the 12 months at 0-3 – particularly whereas lacking star ahead Travis Rugg as a result of harm.
Not as soon as did the thought come up, although, and that confidence confirmed lots Saturday because the No. 7 Harbormen (1-1) edged out a 3-2 win over No. 5 St. John’s Prep (0-1) at Essex Sports Center.
Paul Dzavik scored the primary of his two targets throughout the first 27 seconds, setting the tone early for a two-goal lead by the tip of the primary interval. The Eagles twice minimize their deficit as they carried play in lengthy stretches, however the Hingham protection blocked a barrage of photographs and sophomore goalie Mike Karo (33 saves) confirmed nice imaginative and prescient on what obtained by means of.
“We capitalized on every opportunity we got,” mentioned Hingham head coach Tony Messina. “We played with a bunch of energy and that helped us. … We had so many kids tonight that kind of (showed) extra effort – blocking shots, taking the body. It’s great to be like that.”
“I don’t think our confidence (from Andover) fluttered at all,” Dzavik added. “I don’t think the thought of 0-3 ever crossed our minds. Even without that, winning this game was huge.”
Waiting out nearly an hour-long delay to start out the sport didn’t assist with nerves for St. John’s Prep in its season opener, and Hingham took benefit of it instantly. Dzavik scooped a pricey turnover within the Eagles’ zone and fired it over AJ Farese’s (14 saves) glove for a 1-0 lead simply 27 seconds in.
St. John’s Prep got here out firing in response, prefer it went on to do the remainder of the way in which in an eventual 35-17 shot benefit. But Karo was phenomenal with 14 saves in a shutout first interval, and sophomore Conal Mulkerrin wanted simply 18 seconds of an influence play to ship a 2-0 lead with 4 minutes left within the body.
“We knew we had to come out fast because (St. John’s Prep is) a great team, they’re fast, physical and very skilled,” Dzavik mentioned. “We knew the first shift was going to be huge.”
St. John’s Prep lastly obtained on the board close to the tip of the second interval, with Jake Vana burying Christian Rosa’s face-off win for a 2-1 deficit.
But the Harbormen didn’t take lengthy to get that objective again within the third interval on a Dzavik breakaway, discovering the five-hole with 13:41 to go.
“I kept telling them (that) they can have possession in the offensive zone as long as we keep them on the perimeter,” Messina mentioned. “We were doing a lot of that. The goalie played great. Not a lot of rebounds, everything stuck to him. Just the right formula … you have to be almost perfect to beat these guys.”
St. John’s Prep pulled Farese with underneath two minutes to play, and Vana scored his second objective to place the comeback in attain. The Eagles despatched a number of pucks by means of harmful house in entrance from there, however Karo stopped the perfect bid with 28 seconds left.
“It feels awesome,” Karo mentioned of his first win. “It’s just something special, something that I’ll always really look up to. … (The Andover loss) was motivating, of course. I wanted to really show people who I really was, and I felt like I did that today pretty well.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com