CANTON – Heading into its Div. 1 state event second-round matchup Monday night time, members of the Hingham boys hockey group remembered fairly properly what occurred in an upset loss on the similar stage final season.
It took almost 20 minutes to lastly pot one, however the eighth-seeded Harbormen (15-7-1) made positive that heartbreak wouldn’t occur once more with a 3-0 win over No. 24 Braintree at Canton Ice House.
All three objectives got here inside an eight-minute span within the second interval, capped off by one from senior Paul Dzavik (aim, help) after Wamps goalie Amir Cullinane (29 saves) had placed on a clinic of robberies towards him. Conal Mulkerrin’s aim opened the floodgates, however his was all of the Hingham protection would wish because it restricted Braintree (9-12-1) to simply 9 pictures on aim all sport.
The Harbormen transfer on to play No. 1 St. John’s Prep within the Div. 1 state quarterfinals Thursday at Stoneham Arena (7:30 p.m.).
“Last year was a little bit of a disappointment,” mentioned Hingham head coach Tony Messina. “This year, we really had no goals, but we’ve been building all year long. … It’s just win and move on. In the tournament, there’s no style points. You just somehow get it done.”
“It’s been a thing that we’ve been talking about before games, just how we all felt,” Dzavik added. “(Scoring three quick goals) is unreal, we had a lot of people here today. That was probably the most I’ve been excited to play a game in my career. It was absolutely awesome today.”
Braintree held off a surge out of the gates from the Harbormen to maintain the sport scoreless by way of the primary interval. Dzavik had just a few Grade-A bids on Cullinane as Hingham generated loads of possibilities, however Cullinane performed stellar within the body (13 saves) and the Wamps traded alternatives with six pictures of their very own.
Braintree’s two pictures on Mike Karo (nine-save shutout) within the first minute of the second was all they’d get within the subsequent interval, although, and Hingham lastly broke by way of when Mulkerrin completed off a frenzy 4:30 into the body off a Dzavik help.
“We’ve had trouble getting that first one for the whole season, so we’ve really tried to get to get shots in the soft spots of the offensive zone,” Dzavik mentioned. “I think Conal getting that first one really just gave us that extra boost of confidence and energy, that we were just able to go out there and get two more.”
New vitality pumped onto the ice, with Hingham hemming Braintree into its zone en path to a 17-shot second. Cam McKenna scored on an influence play about 4 minutes after Mulkerrin’s aim, and Dzavik wanted simply three minutes to mild the lamp on seemingly his sixth or seventh shot on aim.
“I think I should’ve had like a hat trick today,” he joked. “Good team win, it’s all good. I am happy I got that one, though.”
Defense solely tightened up from there for Hingham, permitting just one shot on aim within the third to stymie any comeback bid. The Harbormen solely produced two pictures of their very own within the body, but it surely wouldn’t want one other aim with the intention to advance.
“You play with a little more confidence when (you score three quick goals),” Messina mentioned. “We were going to stay with the same thing in the third period, we talked about that. Just need to be aggressive but be smart on the back-check. All night long we had a guy coming back on the back-check, it makes our defense better – we can stand up and keep them from even penetrating the zone. So, it was good.”
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