The Patriots Handle the Hillies

Bedford, MA-The Haverhill Hillies travelled to Bedford to take in the Concord-Carlisle Patriots in a quality DII matchup. Concord-Carlisle proved to be too much as the young Patriots won the game 6-3. Righty goalie Ben Jachinows got the win in net.

We missed the first period but it ended in a 1-1 tie. Concord Carlisle scored first with 8:01 left as freshman Ian Thorpe scored from Tommy Drew. Haverhill responded a couple minutes later on a goal by sophomore Evan Foskett with assists to Hunter Lariviere and Evan Jefferies.

We arrived just as the second period started to see Haverhill’s junior forward Cullin Simes bury one from sophomore Jack Waligora to take a 2-1 lead. The overall play was carried by CC as they played in the Haverhill end most of the period. It payed off as the Patriots’ Carter O’Brien pounced on a rebound of a Noah Thorpe shot to make it 2-2 with 1:03 left. Then the Patriots struck again with 4.5 seconds left when junior Connor Trant scored from sophomore Dane Carter and classmate Aidan Dowd. CC’s goal song “Living in America” blared in the barn again. Concord Carlisle took the 3-2 lead going into the locker room.

The third period was dominated by the Patriots as they played a lot on the Hillies’ zone. With 11:35 left, Carter fired a wrister home after a long shift in the Haverhill zone. The only assist went to Derek Duplessis who won a puck and made a nice pass from below the goal line. The Hillies came right back and scored to cut the lead to 4-3 with 10:00 remaining when Cole Farmer tipped a Charlie Rastausksas shot on the power play. Larviere picked up an assist as well. CC responded right away, however, senior Duncan Stephenson fired one puck under the bar from Thorpe to make it a two goal lead again. Carter would add an empty netter as he fired a turnaround shot home from the neutral zone to seal the victory with 1:03 left. Final was 6-3 Patriots.

Three Stars:

First: Noah Thorpe (CC)

Second: Dane Carter (CC)

Third: Duncan Stephenson (CC)

TTPA: Ben Anastos (CC)

NZ Notes: For Concord-Carlisle; We watched only two periods but noted pretty quickly the young talent that stood out for Concord Carlisle. Thorpe is a 2005 and was dominant here. He has good size, athletic intelligence and played tough hockey. Protected the pucks, can skate and made sharp passes. Solid prospect to track. O’Brien looked silky at times. The sophomore is tall and raw but we like his upside. Trant is really quick laterally and was able to create his shot all game. Carter is slick with elite vision. He rides contact and processes plays at a high level. He must get stronger in his core.The 2004 is another high-end prospect on the CC squad. Anastos is big, strong senior who played big minutes and was tough to play against. Important part of the win. Senior Danny Harrington did not play. For Haverhill; we liked Evan Foskett who played fast, hard and with some snarl. he anticipated plays, protected the puck and can rip it from the edge.