WESTBORO – A scrappy opposition stored the Shrewsbury women hockey workforce from taking part in its typical recreation Monday evening at NorthStar Ice Sports, however even by one among its uglier performances of the yr, the undefeated drum beats on for the Colonials.
Behind a pair of targets from Taylor Ryder in an in any other case defensive grind from each groups, No. 2 Shrewsbury (8-0) received all of the offense it wanted to crawl previous No. 12 Methuen/Tewksbury (4-3) for a 2-1 win in a key MVC/DCL matchup. Shots on aim had been at a premium as defenses prevented a lot from creating on each ends, with the Colonials firing off simply 16.
Nearly half of these got here within the third interval alone, which principally developed throughout three Red Rangers penalties. Shrewsbury didn’t discover the standard offensive success it flashes on particular groups, however all they wanted was one – Ryder’s second aim of the sport – to transform for the winner.
“That wasn’t our game, but I told the girls, ‘It’s a long season and good teams got to win games like that,’” Shrewsbury head coach Frank Panarelli stated. “They play very scrappy, they’re a tough, strong, little team. Hard to just get into a flow. … Playing a league game, the tenacity is there.”
Poor offensive execution was a theme all recreation, which isn’t a primary for the feisty Methuen/Tewksbury protection to pressure.
The Colonials struggled by the opening minutes, permitting the Red Rangers to leap out to an early 3-1 lead in photographs on aim as they couldn’t discover a lot area within the zone and weren’t transferring the puck effectively. Bad turned to worst close to the top of the primary interval when goalie Risa Montoya (12 saves) dedicated a uncommon error throughout a penalty kill, mishandling Sammy Ryan’s shot proper at her to let it slowly trickle behind her and simply previous the aim line for a 1-0 deficit.
That’s what it took for Shrewsbury to lastly pump some life onto the ice, although, as Ryder neutralized the rating simply 30 seconds later. Maddie Mrva’s shot on the pads bounced proper to her and the senior captain delivered a much-needed aim.
“Huge goal by Taylor Ryder,” stated Panarelli. “She’s a senior captain. She came to the bench and I said, ‘That was just a huge goal.’ Going in after the first, we could’ve been down 1-0. … We calmed down, we played a little bit better.”
Scoring solely received harder from there for each groups. Even with two energy performs, Methuen/Tewksbury solely received two photographs on internet. Shrewsbury tallied three. Every rush was shortly defused to ship the puck again to the impartial zone.
The Colonials lastly introduced the warmth within the third, hammering a few photographs off iron and sustaining possession within the offensive zone for longer intervals of time. One of these profitable journeys got here after Shrewsbury received its break early within the body, as Ryder capitalized on a Red Rangers roughing penalty to present it the 2-1 benefit with 12:15 to play. Pressure continued, however Methuen/Tewksbury goalie Taylor Bruno (14 saves) prevented anything from passing her.
That helped transition into a terrific likelihood to pressure time beyond regulation, too. Shrewsbury dedicated a penalty with 1:01 to play, permitting the Red Rangers to play 6-on-4 by pulling Bruno.
Shrewsbury held on, although, letting out a breath of reduction after scraping this one out.
“It was a good game, a win’s a win,” Panarelli stated. “The benefit is, like I told them, ‘We know we can play better. We still won the game and we know we can play better.’ … We just couldn’t get pucks to the net and they did a really good job containing, keeping us outside.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com
