Big week keeps
Canton icemen in contention for
Hockomock title
By Jay Turner
Citizen Staff
Already riding
a three-game winning streak and still in contention for the
Hockomock title, the CHS boys’ varsity hockey team stepped hard
on the gas pedal last week with three more wins in six days,
beating nonleague Pembroke, King Philip and Oliver Ames to
improve to 12-2-1 overall (9-1-1 league).
The Bulldogs
are now 6-0 since enduring a two-game hiccup a few weeks back,
and they entered the week with a legitimate shot at another
championship — assuming they were able to beat undefeated
Franklin (12-0-0) in last night’s much hyped rematch at Canton
Rink. (See next week for details.)
But win or
lose, head coach Brian Shuman said he is still confident about
his team’s chances come tournament time, especially after
watching their poise under pressure in all three games last week
— most notably against Pembroke on Monday, where they fought off
a late surge by the visitors to preserve the 3-2 victory.
Going into the
game, Shuman said his team had considered Pembroke to be “sort
of an enigma” with a record that included just as many bad
losses as big wins. But what they got on Monday was a very good
hockey team that gave the Bulldogs “all they could handle,”
according to Shuman.
Junior Greg
Boyd, in just his second game back from injury, led the Bulldogs
with two first-period goals, while fellow junior Kevin Rooney
scored his league-leading 26th of the season in the
third period, assisted by Matt Buckley and Frank Eckler, to put
Canton ahead for good.
The scoring
then continued on Wednesday against KP as the Bulldogs routed
the Warriors 5-1 on “Canton Youth Hockey Night.”
Despite the
final score, Shuman said KP was “definitely a desperate team”
who was fighting for its playoff life, and it showed early on
when the Warriors came back to tie the game 1-1 in the first
period.
Within
seconds, however, the game swung back in Canton’s favor when
Rooney stole the puck from a KP defender and took it in alone to
make it 2-1. KP then continued to play with intensity, but
Canton’s Pat Ward scored a big second period goal to put the
game out of reach, while Rooney and Buckley piled on with two
more goals in the third. Senior Kyle Leavitt also scored a goal
in the win.
By far the
biggest of the three wins came on Saturday at OA, where senior
goaltender John Donaruma and the Bulldogs blanked the Tigers 2-0
in a clash of second place teams.
Shuman said
Canton was clearly the better team in both the first and third
periods, but he credited Donaruma for perhaps saving the game
with his stellar goaltending in the second period.
“John was
absolutely outstanding,” Shuman said afterward. “He was huge for
us in that game.”
Senior Andrew
Reardon also had a major contribution in the win, scoring his
first career goal with eight minutes remaining in the first
period to put the Bulldogs up 1-0. The Tigers played much better
in the second period, but Canton was able to survive unscathed
thanks to Donaruma.
Rooney then
added an insurance goal in the third period off a faceoff, and
Canton went on to win – giving the Bulldogs a “hat trick” of
sorts for the week with three big wins.
The team
hosts Mansfield on Saturday and then wraps up the season with
another three-game week next week: nonleague games against
Hanover Monday and North Quincy Wednesday, followed by a makeup
game at North Attleboro Thursday.
February 11, 2010
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