North Billerica, MA – tonight the D2 playoffs begin at Chelmsford Forum with the three seed Tewksbury taking on 14-seeded North Reading. With the game taking place at 5pm the crowd filed in a bit late as the first period wore on but the students came out in full force. The early action was a bit slow but the pace picked up as both teams got used to the flow of playoff hockey.
The first frame was dominated early by Tewksbury, who controlled the puck possession and drove to the net hard. Ultimately senior North Reading goalie Cameron Alter shut down every chance he saw, actively pouncing on loose pucks in the crease. As the period wore on you saw the Hornets begin to fight back and they created a few nice opportunities of their own using a chip and chase game. Neither team dented the scoreboard after one period but the action was far more even than the seeds would have predicted.
In the second period, the pace was quicker and more frantic as both teams looked to deliver body blows. The Redmen has the better of the play overall and it looked like they had scored the first goal of the night four minutes in off a nice snap shot from the slot by junior forward Will O’Keefe but the referees waved it off as it appeared they missed it going in and out of the net off the back bar. No matter, Tewksbury shrugged it off and kept pushing. Eventually, they did break the seal eight minutes in when sophomore Cole Stone broke in on the goal off the right wing and snapped a wrister short side shelf to make it 1-0 Redmen. Shortly after that North Reading made a push and Storm Davis put a shot on goal that nearly snuck under the goalie’s pad. But the score would remain 1-0 into the third.
In the third period, it was pretty much all Redmen. They got some insurance three minutes in when senior leader Campbell Pierce took a pass from sophomore stud Jason Cooke and lifted a wrister past Alter: 2-0 Tewksbury. Eight minutes later, they padded their lead when a turnover in the neutral zone led to Pierce putting a shot on net from the slot which was then cleaned up by junior forward John Beatrice: 3-0 Redmen. In a desperation move with about two minutes to go, North Reading pulled their goalie for the extra attacker and Pierce flipped a puck on net from the red line for the empty netter: 4-0 was your final.
Three Stars:
- G Patrick Letourneau, Tewksbury
- F Campbell Pierce, Tewksbury
- F Jason Cooke, Tewksbury
TTPA: F Francis Brachanow, North Reading
NZ’s Take:
This game was a defensive battle early and an offensive splurge late. Both teams came into this game a bit tentative but as the game went on the action picked up and we started to see a bit more daring on both sides. Tewksbury loves to get its defense involved in the offense and they were tough for North Reading to stop because they skate so well. On the flip side North Reading played well defensively, despite the final score, they were great in the neutral zone and showed active sticks in all three zones. Don’t forget that this was a 1-0 game after two periods: the Hornets deserve a lot of credit for how well they were able to limit the high powered Tewksbury offense for 30 minutes. It should also be noted that North Reading did struggle to put shots on Patrick Letourneau – if we were to guess, he probably finished with 15 or less saves on the night, but either way, a shutout is a shutout.
For North Reading, Cameron Alter was very good and kept his team in the game for the first two frames by staying calm throughout and making quick snap adjustments on pucks that changed direction. Junior forward Francis Brachanow was shot out of a cannon all game long and he was able to slow down the Tewksbury transition game because his footspeed messed up their breakout plays. Junior defender Sean Brown is interesting: he’s a bit raw at this stage but he has size, good footwork, uses his stick to defend and looks to get the puck deep on each possession. His upside is worth another look next season.
For Tewksbury, the story remains much the same: Caden Connors and Tom Barbati are probably the most mobile D pair in D2. They both out-skated the North Reading team and opened up numerous passing lanes by moving deep into the offensive zone and changing the D structure. This was the best game we’ve seen Campbell Pierce play in our two viewings of him this season. He was all over the ice and he made a lot of smart offensive plays while taking the time to get himself open for passes and high-quality shots. When he was below the dots, he knew exactly what to do with it and his shots were well placed. The Redmen will move on and await details to see who their opponent will be in the next round.
Game 2: Marblehead vs Wilmington
North Billerica, MA – As soon as Game 1 was over, the rowdy fan sections for Marblehead and Wilmington both began to congeal on separate sides of the glass in the Headers’ offensive zone. Immediately, the juice in the building picked up and both sections had their own themes. The Wildcat faithful were dressed in all-white for a white-out and the front two rows of Headers were dressed for a toga party…impressive to say the least. They were vocal as early as warmups and tossed barbs at each other all game long, what a fun atmosphere for both teams. Credit should also go to the Marblehead Athletic Department who must have bused up about 100 kids for the game, kudos indeed. Unsurprisingly, Wilmington, who is only a 20-minute ride away, brought about 150 student fans out to cheer on their team.
No matter, the first period got off to a raucous start: the Headers were hitting everything that moved and swooping around the offensive zone looking to pounce and capture some early momentum. Wilmington was delivering a few hits of their own, but nothing quite like what Marblehead walked off the bus with. Four minutes in, the Headers struck first when substitute junior defenseman Will Shull (normally a forward) took a pass from Ryan Baker and snapped it home to give the road warriors the 1-0 lead. The team fed off that momentum and the amped-up student section by continuing to generate chance after chance, but Wilmington began to get more involved and stepped up their physical game. That led to a major momentum shift with 11 minutes gone in the period when senior forward Zach Kincaid came flying down the left wing and fired a shot top shelf that beat the Header goalie cleanly: tie game 1-1. With the Wildcat faithful now going bananas, it changed the tenor of this game, which looked like it could have been a runaway early. After one, it was all tied up at one.
In the second, Wilmington continued to step up the physical play and although Marblehead pushed back, you could feel the boulder beginning to roll down hill. With three minutes to go in the period, Marblehead was assessed a penalty and Wilmington generated a couple early chances on their power play that were easily turned away. That is until Joe Hill broke in on his off wing as a lefty and he fired one far side to beat the Header tendy to make it 2-1 off the man advantage. Hill made sure to let the opposing fans know by skating over to their section and jumping on the glass to make sure they remembered him. Things started to get more real after that and the period ended 2-1 Wildcats.
In the third period, there was a lot of back and forth action: the Headers gave it everything they had and put a ton of quality shots on net. The answer was junior netminder Sam Cedrone who made some terrific saves to backstop the victory. One great sliding save to beat a man to the post and another where he saw through a tough screen to snag the puck with his glove. With time ticking away, a timeout was called and Marblehead pulled their goalie, which led to a couple of additional great chances, but also an empty netter by who else? Header student fan section enemy #1: Joe Hill. Your final was 3-1, Wilmington upsets Marblehead and moves on to the next round.
Three Stars:
- F Joe Hill, Wilmington
- G Sam Cedrone, Wilmington
- F/D Will Shull, Marblehead
TTPA D JT Monahan, Marblehead
NZ’s Take:
Wow, what a game this was. It had a little bit of everything: hits, dangles, chirps, cellys…a terrific playoff tilt to watch. The first thing to note even before the drop of the puck is that both of these teams are BIG: it was like watching two football teams getting after it. The two were a perfect match for each other because they both had a lot of stick skill but they both rely on physical play to be successful. It is disappointing that we won’t be able to see more of Marblehead because they had a great season and they have some really skilled players as well. We had a lot of notes after this one based on some great performances, but we will try to keep this short and sweet (there will be more to come in our next Mass HS Report).
For Marblehead, you have to love the selfless move by captain Will Shull to take shifts on the blue line because the team was missing players on the back end due to illness. Truthfully he made some very good plays back there: a couple of nice poke checks and a great 2-on-1 block as well. Make no mistake though that he is best as an offensive threat: he has a clean stride, nice wrist snap on his shot and some shifty moves as he carries it up ice. We came away really impressed by senior Zach Piersol: he looks like the complete package for an MIAA player. He is big, he skates well, plays the body and he only knows one speed: full throttle. If you are a prep team and you aren’t taking a serious look at him? You are missing out. Sophomore attacker Eli Feingold still has yet to fully grow into his frame but he has good hands and he was tricky with the puck all game long. On the defensive side, junior JT Monahan was flat out shutting people down: he played hard, especially in his own end. He pancaked a couple of opposing forwards when they stepped into his general area. Don’t poke the bear.
For Wilmington, we were impressed by sophomore Riley Fitzgerald who was the best skater on the ice for the Wildcats. He is lean, has great footspeed and a repeatable stride that caused all kinds of matchup problems for the Headers. Senior captain Jared Venezia was a Mack truck all night long. The big rig was blocking shots all game (including one with a minute to go that he struggled to get off the ice from) and he had deceptive speed which surprised the defense when he drove hard to the cage. Speaking of deceptive speed there is junior defender Matt Pendenza who has a big body and played physical but he can really take off and he was beating smaller players up the ice. Rarely do you see a player of his size (a defenseman no less) who moves that quick, but he makes it happen. Let’s also talk about the clutch performance of goalie Sam Cedrone, who made the routine saves early in the ballgame but when it really mattered he was in great position and stayed sqaure to shots. He never looked flustered and remained in control. With Marblehead storming the crease a tying goal would have been a huge momentum swing, but he never let one in. Good on him.
