Belmont, MA-The #6 St. Sebastian’s Arrows travelled to #3 Belmont Hill for the first round of the Elite 8 NE Prep Championship. Ryan Kazmouz started in the net for the Arrows and Sam Scopa was in the cage for Belmont Hill.
The Arrows were able to establish a quality forecheck and both teams had chances in the first frame. Princeton commit Brendan Gorman was flying for the Arrows and had a couple quality shots. Yale commit, Ronan O’Donnell had a quality chance with about four minutes left for Belmont Hill, where he put a puck on net and then almost wrapped the rebound home. The period ended 0-0 as both goalies played well.
The second period saw Belmont Hill strike first 10:06 into the frame. 2003 senior Jack Houser took a pass from Brock Cummings and after a couple strides Houser ripped the puck home up top, short side. It was elite shot. Belmont Hill put another one home five minutes later when Jake McManus threw a puck home from a sharp angle that found its way into the net. Daniel Markham picked up the assist. It was 2-0 Belmont Hill with 2:46 left in the middle period. Scopa turned away quality chances by 2007 Teddy Mutryn, BC commit, Nolan Joyce and Harvard commit Michael Callow. St. Sebastian’s held a slight advantage in chances and no penalties were called through two periods.
The sense among the coaches and fans around the boards was that St. Sebastian’s would make a run and they did. However, Belmont Hill would strike first. On the power play, BHS turned a puck over at the offensive blue line and the always dangerous Michael Callow took off on a clear breakaway. He missed as he fanned on the shot. Harvard commit Matthew Biotti found the rebound and snapped a stretch pass to O’Donnell at the far blue line. He burst through the middle and snapped a hard shot on goal. The rebound popped right onto the stick of James Fisher who buried it for a 3-0 Belmont Hill lead. Fisher added quite the celly as he spun and fell down in his excitement. NZ loved it and do did the large crown in Belmont. Then came the Arrows. Callow found a loose puck in the high slot and ripped it through traffic in front and in the net. There was 9:55 left and the momentum was changing. With 6:57 left, Callow took off on the rush, held the puck out of the defenders’ reach and slid a perfect cross crease pass to Jayden Grier and it was a one goal game with lots of time left. The Arrows were able to get Kazmouz out for almost two minutes but they were not able to even the score. Belmont Hill took the 3-2 win at home.
St. Sebastian’s finished the season 18-6-1. Belmont Hill moved to 20-2-3 and will play at #2 Avon Old Farms Saturday. Avon beat #7 Cushing 6-0 tonight.
Three Stars
First: Jack Houser, Belmont Hill
Second: Brock Cummings, Belmont Hill
Third: Sam Scopa, Belmont Hill
Photo Credit: Murph
