Pingree Wins BB&N Holiday Hockey Showcase

  

-- Dec. 30, 1999; Cambridge, Mass.

Paul Knight's slapshot with 1:43 remaining in overtime gave Pingree

(10-3-1) a 4-3 win over BB&N in the championship game of the BB&N Holiday Hockey Showcase. The power-play goal was a near carbon-copy of one the senior scored in OT in the semifinal game against Vermont

Academy and was his sixth of the tournament.  Knight earned Most

Outstanding Offensive Player honors; BB&N senior goaltender Rick Massey took the Most Outstanding Defensive Player award.

 

The title game opened with BB&N taking the lead at 10:30 of the first

period on junior Josh Klimkiewicz's score from in front.  Pingree's top line of Knight, Matt Santos and Keith Cooper evened it, 1-1, at 4:30 of the second, converting an odd-man rush with Santos setting up Cooper, who then made a nice move to beat Massey.

 

At 10:04, Pingree's Jason Montecalvo spotted winger Andrew O'Neill to

the left of the net and shot wide, setting up O'Neill's deflection.  The 2-1 lead lasted all of 22 seconds, however, as Joe Zappala ripped a low shot from the slot into the corner of the net.

 

From that point until Knight's game-winner, Massey and Pingree

goaltender Bob Lemelin held their respective forts with Massey finishing with 39 saves to Lemelin's 32.

 

Earlier Games:

BB&N and Pingree had opened the tournament two days earlier in a contest

that also went into overtime.  After the extra 7:30 in that game, however, the two sides remained deadlocked at 4-4 and it went into a shootout.  Lemelin then provided the edge that got Pingree into the semifinal game by stopping all three BB&N shooters while O'Neill bested Massey.

 

From that point on, it would be Winchendon that would own the rest of

the opening rounds, dominating both Roxbury Latin and Pingree, 10-0 and 9-0, respectively, to earn a clear-cut number one seed in the semifinals.

 

Vermont Academy took second seed by virtue of a 4-3 win over Hoosac and

a 6-5 win over Roxbury Latin.  Pingree and BB&N filled out the semifinal draw as the three and four seeds, respectively, the latter advancing on the strength of a 10-0 blowout of Hoosac.

 

Pingree took the lead in the early semifinal game on a Cooper goal, but

Vermont evened it off a scramble in front.  Knight and Matt Howarth then traded four-on-four tallies to put the game into overtime, where Knight's game-winning slapshot from the point put the Highlanders into the championship game and foreshadowed his deja vu strike to earn

Pingree the winner's trophy.

BB&N's road to the championship game was no less dramatic.  Winchendon's

slash-and-burn swath through the opening rounds had left many assuming that its eventual crowning as tournament champion was a fait accompli.  Instead, Massey's spectacular performance in the nets, stopping over 15 high quality opportunities, stymied Winchendon and virtually guaranteed his Most Outstanding Defensive Player honors while sophomore Dan Shribman's

hat trick provided the necessary offense.

 

Dec. 28

Pingree 5 BB&N 4 (shootout)

Winchendon 10 Roxbury Latin 0

Vermont Academy 4 Hoosac 3

Dec. 29

BB&N 10 Hoosac 0

Vermont Academy 6 Roxbury Latin 5

Winchendon 9 Pingree 0

Dec. 30

Semifinal - Pingree 3 Vermont Academy 2 (OT)

Semifinal - BB&N 4 Winchendon 3

5 vs. 6 game - Hoosac vs. Roxbury Latin

Championship Game - Pingree 3 BB&N 2 (OT)