WOBURN – Jack Rakauskas and the Hingham boys hockey crew couldn’t let Arlington have all of the glory inside a wild Sunday afternoon at O’Brien Rink.
After watching the Spy Ponders want additional time to edge Belmont and successfully punch their ticket to the Doherty division ultimate within the Ed Burns Coffee Pot Tournament, Rakauskas’ objective in double-overtime propelled the Harbormen (10-1-4) to their very own 2-1 win over Reading – including suspense to the doubleheader. His breakaway tally to win it paired with Luke McLellan’s 27 saves in internet to stave off a charged Rockets (9-3-1) assault all through, all whereas the group’s stamina seemingly outlasted Reading regardless of taking part in Pope Francis the day earlier than.
“We didn’t want to go to overtime, believe me,” mentioned Hingham head coach Tony Messina. “We were asleep first five minutes of the game, I think we didn’t get off the bus yet. But we turned it around after that. Pretty happy with the effort.”
Stellar defensive play saved each teams off the board a lot of the sport, highlighted by spectacular work between the pipes from McLellan and Reading goalie Chris Hanifan (27 saves). Hingham lastly broke by means of when Travis Rugg completed off a second rebound try with 1:11 left within the second interval, and fairly a number of saves from the ideas of McLellan’s toes saved it that method for a positive shutout.
Reading’s Cam Fahey made positive it wasn’t, although, carrying the puck previous two defenders earlier than scoring the 1-1 neutralizer with 2:29 left in regulation. The final man he beat was really Rakauskas, who handled some issues along with his skates all through.
Those issues didn’t present in double-overtime, as he took a go from Billy Jacobus at his personal blue line after Reading hit the put up on a close to game-winner. He outskated the 2 Rockets on his again for a breakaway, ending the sport by lifting the puck to the top-left shelf.
“I could hear the two guys behind me, but I just kept going,” Rakauskas mentioned. “It was the first 3-on-3 in my life, it was just a great moment. I just didn’t want to get caught, that’s all I was thinking.”
Perhaps the one game-winner that might high it got here only a couple hours earlier than.
As a part of one other thrilling episode inside their Middlesex League rivalry with Belmont, Arlington rallied twice earlier than Killian Wright’s objective with 19 seconds left in additional time delivered a 3-2 win. It was his second rating of the sport, including to his game-tying tally with just below 5 minutes left within the second interval.
Head coach John Messuri hasn’t felt his group performed all that nicely as of late regardless of a six-game win streak, however was greater than happy with how the crew pulled off this one.
“These two teams have played so many good games the last three or four years, they’re so well-coached it’s hard to ever get a lead on them,” he mentioned. “That was the best structure we’ve played with all year. … We’ve been winning, (but) we haven’t been playing good. I thought we played pretty good tonight.”
Belmont has a knack for preserving groups off the board and capitalizing on opposing errors. The first interval noticed a contact of that, leaping out to a 1-0 lead when Shay Donahue scored from wide-open house within the slot as Arlington goalie Jake Davies (22 saves) slowly recovered from a diving bid to clear the puck. The Spy Ponders answered with a Jake Russell objective two minutes later, however trailed once more when Peter Grace’s shot from the purpose deflected off Donahue’s physique into the web for his second objective.
That’s all Arlington would let up the remainder of the best way, although, largely limiting Cam Fici (two assists). Wright tied the sport regardless of one other strong effort in internet from Greg Federico (17 saves) on a breakaway, and each teams performed sound hockey for a scoreless third interval.
A affected person method paced Arlington in additional time to keep away from any gaps Belmont may bounce on, and a very good feed to the slot from Stephanos Sotiropoulos arrange Wright for the back-handed winner.
“I was so excited, I don’t know, the adrenaline was rushing through my body,” Wright mentioned. “That’s huge for us. We’re trying to find our way this year. This definitely is going to help.”
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