Canton, MA – Neutral Zone made the trip to the Canton Ice House on Saturday to watch the Hockey Fights Cancer game between Westwood and Norwood. There were three games on the day (Norwood/Westwood, Blue Hills/Bellingham, and Xaverian/Framingham) and each was played in honor of Maria “Reo” Todesca and the American Cancer Society. The event was well run and saw big crowds and a lively atmosphere.
Norwood scored a second-period goal and then held on to shutout Westwood 1-0. The game was generally played in the neutral zone and saw long periods of game action without sustained offensive pressure. Norwood would breakthrough off a broken two-on-one. Senior forward Anthony Marchant fired a long-range shot on goal which sent a rebound into the air. Junior forward Jake Russo drove the net and batted the rebound out of the air and into the net. Westwood tried to mount a comeback in the third but found themselves in the penalty box for most of the period. They had a few chances with the goalie pulled, but junior Brendan Bartucca stood his ground and earned the shutout.
Three Stars
- G Brendan Bartucca – Norwood
- F Jake Russo – Norwood
- G Ben Goodrich – Westwood
NZ Notes
The winners were lead by strong performances from Marchant and Russo up front. Both work hard and are quick on the puck. They play smart, direct games and drive the net hard and stop on pucks. Marchant uses his body well to protect the puck and is good off the cycle and down low along the wall. He has a quick first step and gets the puck to the net. Forward Conor Lydon is interesting. He is only a freshman and is smaller but he moves around the ice well and is comfortable distributing the puck in transition. On the back end, Jack Lydon was solid. He is comfortable with the puck on his stick and doesn’t hesitate to take open ice through the neutral zone. He plays in all situations and has a big shot from the point. Finally, he wasn’t tested a ton, but Bartucca was solid between the pipes. He controlled rebounds and used good angles to cut down the open net.
For Westwood, Colin Fahey is counted on to drive the offense. He is a slick winger that moves well with and without the puck. He has a good first step and quickly spins away from pressure. Freshman Danny Sullivan was noticeable as well. He plays his wing well and gets up-and-down the ice easily. He sees the sheet well and made some nice reads to create offensive chances. On the back-end, AJ Maalouf plays a ton of big minutes in all situations. He is a big body that does a good job defending in his own zone. He makes simple plays and zips passes tape-to-tape. He is tough to play against along the walls and in front of his net. Ben Goodrich was the hard-luck loser. He played well in net and made several nice saves to keep the game 1-0.
