Belmont Slips Past Woburn 2-1

Woburn, MA – The Marauders of Belmont High School traveled to the Ned O’Brien Arena for a noontime matchup against their Middlesex League rivals the Tanners of Woburn High School.

Woburn came out in the first and did a great job on their forecheck, applying consistent pressure on the Belmont defensemen. This led to multiple turnovers and some quality scoring chances for the Tanners through the first half of the period. Then just like that with 4:46 to go it was 1-0 Belmont as senior forward Ben Packard collected a puck in the high slot that was turned over by a Woburn player and beat Tanner senior goaltender Jeremy Barreto over the glove. Belmont picked up some momentum after the goal and carried the play through the rest of the period. Our score after 1 was 1-0.

Belmont seemed to find their legs in-between periods because they dominated the second. The Marauders played in Woburn’s end for the first few minutes of the frame, but Barreto stood tall. Belmont would go on the power play early and come up empty as Woburn did a solid job on the kill. With 10:15 to go and back at even strength, Belmont’s senior captain Cam Fici would give the Marauders the 2-0 lead. With a faceoff to the right of Barreto, Belmont senior forward Shay Donahue would win it back to Fici who found a seam through a screen and the puck found the back of the net. The period would end with Belmont up 2-0.

Woburn pushed the pace in the first few minutes of the third with Belmont seemingly  looking to just get pucks deep and defend. Belmont’s senior goalie Greg Federico, who had been quiet for much of this game came up big with 10 minutes to go. After a neutral zone turnover, Woburn junior forward Matt Mahoney picked up a loose puck and carried into the attacking zone in a 2-on-1 rush. Mahoney slid a puck through the Belmont defenseman to senior forward Jackson Powers who tried to pull the puck across the crease but was denied on a terrific save by Federico. Belmont continued to get pucks deep and played strong defense, making it tough on Woburn to get any zone time or quality chances. With around two minutes left, the game took a bit of turn. With a delayed penalty call on Belmont a few feet from the Woburn bench, Tanner goalie Barreto made his way off the ice for the extra skater. As Barreto skated to the bench, Belmont’s Matthew Pomer made contact with him leading to a lot of pushing and shoving between both teams and ultimately secured Woburn a 5-on-3 power play advantage. The Tanners would indeed take advantage: with 38 seconds to go sophomore forward Jack McEleney tipped home a pass from senior forward Danny DeFeo to cut the lead in half at 2-1. Ultimately time ran out on any chance to tie the game for the Tanners and the Marauders headed home with the 2-1 victory.

Three Stars:

  1. D Peter Grace, Belmont
  2. F Cam Fici, Belmont
  3. F Ben Packard, Belmont