Stoneham, MA – In a matchup of no-loss teams just before the Christmas holiday, both Austin Prep and Xaverian were looking to remain unbeaten before they opened their Christmas presents on Tuesday. Ironically, neither team left with a loss as the game ended in a 5-5 tie.
In the early minutes of this game it was Austin Prep who controlled the tempo, winning races to pucks and attacking the zone with vigor. The scoring got started about 3 minutes in when forward Joe Solimine crept in from the left dot and craftily waited out the netminder to make it 1-0. The Cougars continued to dominate possession in the early part of the first until the referees began calling penalties, lots of them. Xaverian finally cashed in on the power play chance with 12 seconds left as defender Matt Joyce walked along the blue line and ripped one home through a goalie screen.
The second period, once again, was a penalty-filled affair but that didn’t stop Xaverian from carrying over the momentum into the period. Senior forward Josh Barton slammed home a centering feed 29 seconds in to give the Hawks a 2-1 lead. They came right back 5 minutes later and following a great individual effort from Barton, junior Matty Ryan knocked home a loose puck along the goal line: 3-1 Xaverian. One minute later the Cougars made a push and forward Doug Russo shoveled home a loose puck in the crease to cut the Xaverian lead to 3-2.
The score remained that way until about halfway into the third period when the goal explosion started. First, captain Max Pineo finished off a nice feed from Chris Roy to tie the game up. 30 seconds later, Brady McGrath stole the puck in the neutral zone and finished the play off himself with a bar down snipe to give the Cougars the lead. That lead was short lived as a minute later Robbie Barletta ripped home a shot from the top of the circle on the power play to tie it back up. With about three minutes remaining in the game, Nolan Ricci scored off a net-front deflection on the power play to give Austin Prep the lead once more. But, after yet another penalty, Xaverian cashed in with just over a minute to play and the goalie pulled as Eric Wainwright shoveled home the final goal of the evening with the final score being 5-5.
NZ Take:
While neither team played a completely flawless game, the referees were heavily involved in this one. There were long stretches in all three periods where there was at least one penalty on the board, including a stretch of 3-on-3 and at least three 10-minute misconduct penalties. Putting that aside, both of these teams like to play fast but Xaverian was able to use team size to its advantage as Austin Prep is a younger team. Austin Prep was quite opportunistic with its possessions whereas Xaverian was more predicated on power to enter the zone. In terms of standouts, Austin Prep’s Solimine showed great poise and vision with the puck while teammate Pineo was a Swiss Army Knife for Coach Pappas: he could plug him into any given situation. For Xaverian, senior captain Josh Barton put the power in power forward: he was strong and smart with the puck all game long. Defenseman Matt Joyce made a number of positive plays with his feet by walking the blue line and using his foot speed to angle off attackers. Both of these teams are trending in the right direction as Christmas approaches.
Three Stars:
- F Eric Wainwright, Xaverian
- F Max Pineo, Austin Prep
- F Josh Barton, Xaverian
