Exeter, NH – And so it begins, today being the first official scrimmage of the season against another prep roster. Today the Hoosac Owls descended on Exeter to take on the hometown Big Red of Phillips Exeter.
It didn’t take long to get things started as five minutes in Exeter forward Noah Jankowski (Methuen, MA) took a shot from the right point which produced a juicy rebound in front of Owls goalie Kevin Chandler (Hanover, MA). The result was a far side tap in by senior forward Ryan Loring (Southington, CT). Nine minutes later Exeter padded its lead when Reese Ramirez (Pittsburgh, PA) took a shot from the right wing which deflected again to the far side and senior forward Danny Colon (Mendham, NJ) was there to clean it up. After one it was 2-0 Big Red.
The tide was turned by Hoosac early in the second as a nice tic-tac-goal combination was executed by Manuel Cabral (Cumberland, RI), Meguire Naughton (Toronto, ON) and finished off by senior Jerry Duckett (Long Island, NY) to cut the lead in half. Despite Exeter continuing to dominate possession, Hoosac continued to build momentum and seven minutes later Naughton made a nice feed from behind the net to set up senior Sebastian Tigerheilm (Stockholm, Sweden) to tie the score at 2-2. At that point Exeter looked to grab control back, and thought they had a goal by Ramirez to retake the lead but the referees said to play on and that it hit the crossbar. A few minutes later a Hoosac player was upended in the attacking zone and Naughton took exception levying a high hit in the defensive zone that earned him an ejection and a 5 minute major. On the ensuing power play, Exeter scored off a nice pass through traffic off the right wing by PG D Jack Simon (Arlington, MA) to Tom Chmielewski (Needham, MA) which gave them the lead back 3-2. That sent both teams back to the room for a decisive third to follow.
In the final period Exeter finished off the game applying a bit more pressure on the Owls with the cycle and scored an insurance goal eight minutes in when Colon slung a puck to the net and junior Michael Young (Kings Park, NY) finished off the play at the netfront. Final score: Exeter 4, Hoosac 2.
Three Stars
- F Tom Chmielewski, Exeter (GWG)
- F Danny Colon, Exeter (G, A)
- D Meguire Naughton, Hoosac (A, A)
NZ’s Take
For the first game of the season, this was a well-played contest. Normally in scrimmage situations the players are just getting used to a high pace of play and the physicality but here we saw good systems play and plenty of defensive awareness. Exeter’s defensive layering looked strong thanks to a predominantly upperclassmen laden team. Hoosac took a period in order to get rolling but once they did they were able to tie the score and their athleticism will allow them to sneak up on a number of teams this season.
In terms of top performers, for Exeter, sophomore forward (and late 03 birthyear) Charlie McGurrin (Marblehead, MA) showed plenty of athleticism for 6’3 and great hustle even though he is a bit raw for prep hockey. Unsurpringly, Danny Colon and Reese Ramirez will pace the team in scoring: they work quite well together as a dynamic duo on the top line. They possess it well and know how to best use every inch of space the defense gives them.
For Hoosac, junior defender Meguire Naughton really stuck out. He has good size at 6’1 and closes down space well in the D zone. He also delivered big hits, one of which was a bit too extreme when he stuck up for a teammate and went in high and unloaded on an Exeter player in the corner which earned him a trip to the showers. We were also impressed with senior 6’3 blue liner Tyler Drummond (Baldwin, NY) who shows a clean and sleek skating stride and great balance on his skates. Both defenders allowed the Owls to break the puck out more effectively becuase they gathered it cleanly in their own zone and moved it up ice quickly.
Photo Credit; Dan Hicking/Hickling Images
