Ryan Shannon scored the tying goal -- his second of the game -- with 6:03 remaining in the third period to give host Taft - which at one point led 2-0 - a tie with a determined Avon club. The game, which had a bit of an edge to it, was a hard-fought, physical, and well-played prep school hockey game.

The game started off slowly, with very little flow as both teams seemingly were waiting to for the other to make the first mistake. However, Taft began to utilize their tremendous team speed and started to take control at about the halfway mark of the period. They got their first "grade A" scoring chance when Christian Jensen, who was tremendous all afternoon, crossed the blue line and, a la Gretzky, cut to the middle. After beating one D, Jensen dished to linemate Tim Pettit who fed the puck across the goal-mouth to a wide-open Shannon who was unable to get his stick on the puck as it sailed past him into the corner of the rink.

Just under a minute later, however Taft got on the board. Off a dump-in, Avon netminder Tim Warner came out and wrapped the puck up the left defensive boards. However, he never made it back to the net as he collided with both a teammate and Taft's Ryan Trowbridge – and subsequently fell down. The wrapped puck found its way onto the stick of hard-working sophomore forward Ben Driver and he merely slid the puck – on the ice – into the empty net to give the home team a 1-0 lead.

Leading 1-0 (and controlling the play), Taft doubled its lead just 3:15 into the second period. Off a defensive zone face-off, Jensen won a race to the puck along the wall just inside his blue line. With both Avon defenseman pinching, the poised Jensen corralled the puck, absorbed not one-but two hits, and neatly slid the puck into the middle of the ice to a wide-open Shannon. Shannon skated in alone – from nearly his own blue line – and deked Warner to give the home team a seemingly commanding two-goal lead.

Just over a minute later though, on a power play, Avon cut the lead in half as Merrimack-bound defenseman Eric Pederson took a pass from Glenn Stevens and slapped a hard – on the ice – slap shot through a maze, which found its way past Taft goaltender Mark Spadaccini to make the score 2-1.

With the game being played at a much quicker pace than the first period, the teams battled shift for shift, with Taft utilizing its speed and generating a greater amount of offense.

However, Avon managed to tie the game with just 1:26 remaining as UMass-Amherst-bound Scott Horvath – slicing through the slot – received a Ryan O’Connell pass on the backhand, and quickly transitioned the puck to his forehand before rifling a shot – again on the ice – through the five hole.

So, despite outshooting Avon 15-7 (13 of which came from the Pettit -3, Shannon –3, and Jensen -7!! line), the Rhinos went into the third tied at two.

An errant pass – and turnover – in their own defensive zone gave Avon its third consecutive goal as at the 2:19 mark of the third, as the diminutive Dan Pike picked off a cross-ice pass and slipped it to teammate Joe Covell who made an outstanding pass to Scott Trahan who was cutting through the slot. Trahan made an excellent move before rifling one over Spadaccini’s glove to give the Winged Beavers a surprising 3-2 lead.

Taft was able to tie the game at 8:57 when Jensen and Pettit worked hard to create a turnover in the offensive zone which created a scramble, from which the puck found its way onto the stick of Shannon, who just always seems to be on the puck. Shannon, showing poise and skill, made a tremendous move to deke a defenseman before walking in alone and burying the puck past Warner for his second goal of the game.

The remainder of the game was largely controlled by Taft, particularly the overtime, in which they outshot the visitors 7-2, but were unable to score.

Final Score – Taft 3 Avon 3.

Scoring:

Shots 1 2 3 OT Total