South Dennis, MA – On the eve of The Big Game, Neutral Zone was able to take in a contest nearly as big out on the Cape between the Sandwich Blue Knights and the Dennis-Yarmouth Dolphins. The game was played over three fifteen minute periods, and provided the viewers with a great back and forth game with plenty of excitement.
The first period showed us just what type of game this would shape up to be. To start the game, the Dolphins were hemmed in their own zone for quite some time by the Blue Knights attack. Sandwich was able to muster up plenty of chances, but ultimately couldn’t put one home. On the other end of the ice, Dennis-Yarmouth was unable to gain a lot of offensive zone pressure, but still had plenty of chances on the counter attack when they’d clear their defensive zone. The Dolphins went on the power play twice in the period, but at the end of the first, the score remained 0-0.
Dennis-Yarmouth started the period on the power play, but quickly took a penalty to even it up to 4-on-4. When the Sandwich penalty expired, they took advantage of their shortened powerplay to put home the first goal of the game. Freshman forward Jack Connolly floated into the slot from behind the net to bang home a rebound to open up the scoring for the game. Shortly after however, Dolphins senior forward Tommy Julian picked up the puck from his defensive zone and raced forward, blowing past two Sandwich defenders, and into the offensive zone for a breakaway, where he put a shot top shelf to knot the game at one all. With just about two minutes remaining in the second, Sandwich would go on the power play. They would look dominant in the offensive zone on this man advantage, and their efforts would pay off. After a flurry of shots from the Knights, Rob Cardillo would pick up a rebound in the slot and find the back of the net, breaking the tie in favor of Sandwich.
The third period would see an extremely competitive back-and-forth between both sides, where the physicality amped up to a new level. Both sides traded blows in an attempt to alter the score, but after the Cardillo goal, it would remain the same and the game would end 2-1 in favor of the Blue Knights.
Three Stars:
- G Mitchell Norkevicius, Sandwich
- G Mason Sheehan, Dennis-Yarmouth
- F Rob Cardillo, Sandwich
