Arlington at Winchester; 1/12/2019
Woburn, MA: The Arlington Spy Ponders picked up a dominating 6-1 win over the Winchester Sachems at O’Brien Rink this afternoon. The game had Super Eight and Middlesex League implications. Junior Nate Brennan earned the win in net for the Spy Ponders as they got goals from six different players.
The first period teams felt each other out the first 10 minutes. Sachem goalie Rob DiVincenzo made a nice glove save on a point-blank shot by Arlington freshman Reid Malatesta about six minutes in and Arlington’s Nate Brennan made a nice stop on a turnaround attempt by Ryan McCarthy. Soon after the Spy Ponders struck, as sophomore Leo Piandes banged home a rebound of a Dominic Laiosa point shot with 5:48 remaining. Antonio Laiosa also picked up an assist. The feeling out was over and the pace picked up. Winchester tied the game as Sean Cashell made a nice play to corral a puck and put it on the stick of junior Ryan McCarthy who quickly passed it to senior Joe Lepore. Lepore fired it top corner for the score. Game was tied 1-1 after one.
In the second, Arlington’s depth started to take over and it became apparent Winchester was not going to be able to keep pace. Senior Will Jennings found an errant puck in the slot and quickly wristed it home just 1:50 in to give Arlington the lead back. With 8:11 remaining, Winchester coughed up a bad turnover up high on the power play and senior Joe Scheschareg took off on the breakaway, finishing with a neat deke to his forehand. Four minutes later, Antonio Laiosa walked the blue and snapped a puck home to put the Spy Ponders up 4-1. Tyler Callahan picked up and assist. The period ended 4-1 and Arlington was rolling.
The third was more of the same as Winchester was not able to put any sort of pressure on the Spy Ponders. Senior Jack Simon flicked a puck on goal through traffic to make it 5-1 Arlington. To make things worse, soon after Winchester took a five-minute major. On the ensuing power player junior Anthony Messuri ripped a shot home from the high shot for the sixth Arlington score. Arlington cruised to the end from there and the game ended 6-1.
Three Stars
1st Joe Scheseschareg (Arlington)
2nd Jack Simon (Arlington)
3rd Antonio Laiosa (Arlington)
For Arlington; they are the deepest public-school team we have seen. Talent and experience is spread through the roster and they seem to have found a goalie tandem with Brennan as a solid half. He was aggressive but poised. Not a big goalie but technical and athletic. Senior Dara Coneely is really strong on the puck and wears out defensemen. Simon is a puck mover. Good feet and started a lot of plays in transition and facilitated clean zone entries. Good on the PP, one of the better D in MA HS. Jennings has always been a goal scorer. The Matignon transfer gets to scoring spots and the puck finds him. Nice release and also showed vision on the rush, making a couple nice cross-ice passes. We like his upside. A. Laiosa is small bit played an excellent game in all situations. Battled and moved quickly to defend but really came alive with possession. He has some skill. Senior is interesting. Brendan Jones is a junior with great speed. Andrew Malatesta is both strong and fast. Tough to play against. High upside athlete. Messuri is another burner for the Spy Ponders. Played point in the PP and gets to plays quickly. Unpredictable and tough to defend. For Winchester; not much positive happened. Senior Luke Mix showed a little offensive flair early in the game that we liked. Couple good shots on goal. Ryan McCarthy is getting better. Sees it and passes well. Winchester will have to a find more productive second group if they want to compete with the top teams like Arlington. The Frank Napolitano, Collin Van Stry and Joey Falso line showed flashes and they may have something there but they are still young. It wasn’t DiVincenzo’s night but he still has some nice tools in the goal. Seems there isn’t another goalie to substitute for him as he was kept in there all game in an obvious situation where you’d get a young goalie out of there.
Photo Credit: Dan Hickling/Hickling Images
