Woburn, MA – Normally MIAA’s big game days are limited to Wednesdays and Saturdays, but on Monday the Reading Rockets traveled a few miles down the road to face their local rivals in the Woburn Tanners. Reading was only playing their second game on the season, while Woburn had already played twice. As has become the custom with many conferences: this game was played in two 22:30 halves. The game got off to a rather peculiar start as both teams had congregated and warmed up and were ready to go…but the referees hadn’t shown up. Both teams waited roughly 30 minutes before the zebras made their appearance and we could get this tilt underway.
Once the game did get started, the momentum was totally owned by Woburn, less than two minutes into the half sophomore forward Brett Stone stole the puck and dished off to junior forward Ryan Scalesse who buried it upstairs to make it 1-0 Tanners. Just four minutes later Woburn scored again when senior sniper Jonathan Surrette hopped on a loose puck below the dot and fired it home: 2-0. Woburn continued to put the pressure on for a good chunk of the half, however the momentum pendulum swung the other way when there was a skirmish in the Reading defensive zone which lead to a double minor being assessed to the Tanners. That was the energy boost that the Rockets needed as they cashed in on the first minor when junior defenseman Zach Micciche fired one from the point that may have hit a body in front: 2-1 was the score. Just two minutes later on the second infraction they tied it up as Cullen Emery shot one off the netminder laterally from the left of the cage along the goal line. 2-2 was your score after the first.
In the second frame, the opening few minutes featured a lot of back and forth action – each team had quality scoring chances, but there was also some solid defensive work to limit others. Things stayed tied up until nine minutes had elapsed when a faceoff in the Woburn end was won by the Rockets and junior forward Ryan Goodwin found an open senior forward Colin Mulvey creeping into the slot and he buried to make it 3-2 Rockets. Woburn made a push after the goal was scored but Reading withstood the charge. With under six minutes to play, it was (guess who?) Jon Surrette who charged in off the left wing and fired a shot on net that was tipped nicely by sophomore forward Jackson Powers: 3-3. And that was how this contest would end.
Three Stars:
- F Jon Surrette, Woburn
- F Jackson Powers, Woburn
- F Cullen Emery, Reading
NZ Notes:
- One wonders if the refs thought this was a 12:30pm puck drop? It took a solid 30 minutes for the action to get underway and credit to the players who went through nearly 20 minutes of warmups before the game. They did well to balance staying loose with expending too much energy before the game got started.
- Reading settled in nicely as the game went along: they played physical all game long and sought to wore down the opposition keeping the action away from the middle of the ice.
- Woburn is going to be a tough team to beat this season: they have speed, physicality and gumption. Great work along the walls and some smart decisions in open ice put Reading on it’s heels early.
- Brett Stone from Woburn is a fun player to watch: strong on his stick and very smart in possession, he knows how to use your momentum against you on the rush.
- Cullen Emery looks like the blue chip freshman that Reading was expecting coming into the season. He took over this game offensively in stretches with great stickhandling in traffic.
