HINGHAM – Over the previous couple of weeks, head coach Tony Messina has preached the narrative that between one of the best of the personal faculties and one of the best of the general public faculties in Div. 1 this yr, it’s actually anyone’s recreation on any given night time.
On Wednesday, as hockey titans collided in entrance of a packed Pilgrim Arena crowd, his Hingham boys hockey group confirmed precisely what he meant.
Behind a profitable forecheck to restrict opposing alternatives all through a lot of the way in which, in addition to a couple of high quality strikes to leap out to an early lead, the No. 3 Harbormen (10-1-5) bruised their solution to a 3-1 nonleague win over No. 2 Catholic Memorial (14-2).
Goals from Joe Hennessey and Travis Rugg within the opening 18 minutes gave Hingham all of the offense it will want, whereas goalie Luke McLellan fought off a tenacious last response from the Knights with 12 of his 27 saves within the third interval.
In a yr during which many have labeled St. John’s Prep and CM as the 2 title favorites, Hingham’s 2-2 tie towards the Eagles and this win have mixed for nothing wanting a large assertion.
“They’re up to the task, they’re ready to go,” Messina stated. “Any time we play anyone in this building, we can win it, for sure. They’ve got a lot of confidence right now. … When they play CM, they’re up for the game (no matter how much rest in-between tilts).”
The solely factor extra suffocating than the mob of followers in attendance was every groups’ collapsing defenses all through a lot of the opening interval.
The playoff-like depth of the matchup confirmed typically, as neither group had a lot house to function when leaving their defensive zone. It wasn’t till Hennessey discovered a uncommon lane on the left circle that both group was capable of take a lead, and he completed off the sport’s opening objective previous Owen Watson (17 saves) with 1:50 left within the first. But simply 9 seconds is all Knights ahead Tyler Hamilton wanted to bury his personal objective out of a faceoff, knotting the rating at 1-1.
Hingham was fast to reply, although, as Rugg discovered extra uncommon open house alongside the boards to sprint towards the online with the puck within the opening minute of the second interval. He put a transfer on Watson to bait him all the way down to his pads, pulled the puck round him and completed a 2-1 lead with ease from the slot.
From there, the Harbormen protection continued to disclaim the Knights from many probabilities, permitting simply 16 photographs on internet between the primary two durations.
“It all starts with a good forecheck,” Messina stated. “When we’re pressuring from behind, the D can stand up and it kind of limits what they can do. We’re fortunate. We block a lot of shots, our goalie played well. There’s a lot of things you have to do well to beat a good team like that.”
As defining as these durations have been for the Harbormen, the third was the place their guts confirmed off probably the most.
Catholic Memorial fired on all cylinders in small bursts, peppering McLellan from each angle to attempt to come again. Wrap-arounds and rebound bids didn’t break by way of, whereas most photographs on internet got here from the faceoff circles as Hingham’s protection saved nearly every thing to the skin. And in between every stretch of exercise, the Harbormen maintained possession in CM’s defensive zone to kill clock.
The Knights did have a brief likelihood to get a bonus by pulling Watson with 55 seconds left, however an Ace Concannon empty-netter sealed the deal.
Source: www.bostonherald.com