Sun. 3/3/24
NEPSAC Boys' Hockey Tournament Championships
Sunday, March 3, 2024
At Harvard University
ELITE 8
#2 KUA Wins 4th Prep Title; Tops #1 Cushing, 4-1;
Sadowski, McMeniman Star
When Cushing fell to Avon Old Farms in last season's Elite 8 championship game at Saint Anselm College, Penguins' head coach Paul Pearl offered a blunt analysis.
"We just didn't bury it," Pearl said after the 2023 loss to AOF. "We didn't score."
This season, everything shaped up right for Pearl's squad. They leapfrogged Avon in the season's final weeks to enter the postseason as the top seed. They then vanquished the Winged Beavers with a 4-1 semifinal win. But on Sunday, with the title hanging in the balance against #2 Kimball Union, the Penguins faced the same problem: they just couldn't score.
Out of the gates, the game's energy was palpable. Harvard's Bright-Landry Hockey Center, which holds more than 3,000 spectators, was over half full. The student sections — Cushing's supporters donning white and KUA's clad in black — went back and forth. The action on the ice was fast.
Kimball Union -- paced by USHR Player of the Year Jack Sadowski, a UNH commit -- looked comfortable from the jump. The Wildcats skated with pace, moved the puck quickly, and played downhill. Less than four minutes in, Sadowski took a pass from linemate Sam LeDrew, spun in front of the crease from the right post to the left, and tucked the puck past Cushing senior goalie Marko Bilic for a 1-0 lead.
That's not to say Cushing didn't have its chances. The Penguins offense, primarily generated from the wings, peppered KUA junior netminder Blake McMeniman, but most of their shots were from long range, and the Revere, Mass. native easily handled them.
At the other end, Cushing's Bilic, an Arizona State recruit and USHR's Co-Goalie of the Year, was strong too. But KUA's offense was firing on all cylinders, blowing past the Penguins' defense and moving the puck quickly, preventing Cushing from getting physical along the walls and often leaving Bilic — who surrendered three goals for just the fifth time all season — alone as the last line of defense.
Nearly eight minutes after Sadowski's first goal, the winger started another play deep in Cushing's zone. From the half wall, Sadowski dished to the left circle for LeDrew, who slid a pass across the slot to junior center Corwith Simmers. With plenty of time at the bottom of the right circle, Simmers rifled a shot past Bilic. 2-0, KUA.
Out of the first intermission, Cushing began to play with more determination -- and, perhaps, some desperation. But, less than two minutes into the middle frame, Penguins' senior defenseman Troy Maldonado was called for cross-checking, and Sadowski wasted no time at all on the power play. Less than 20 seconds into the man advantage, the senior took a cross-ice feed and, from the top of the left circle, unleashed a snipe into the top right corner for a 3-0 lead. Maldonado's penalty, it should be noted, was the game's lone penalty.
The remainder of the second period was Cushing's best stretch of the day. The Penguins turned up the heat and, for the first time all game, matched — if not bested — KUA's energy. But McMenimen continued to hold down the fort in the KUA net. Nearly six minutes into the second, Cushing senior AJ Sacco, with a brilliant individual effort, brought the puck right to McMeniman's doorstep, but the Wildcats' netminder was there to seal the near post. On his way off the ice, a frustrated Sacco slammed his stick into the boards in front of his team's bench.
Finally, nearly six minutes later, Cushing cracked the scoreboard. Post-grad Bronson Hunt, off a perfectly placed feed from classmate Emerson Marshall, roofed one for the first Cushing goal of the day. Alas, the momentum swung toward the team in purple, and it felt as though another goal before the end of the second, for either side, would go a long way toward deciding the outcome.
That key goal nearly came late in the third when Sadowski, skating along the left wing, flew into the offensive zone and unfurled a wrist shot toward the top corner of Bilic's net. The puck rang off the left post and — as it appeared to many in attendance -- went in. But play continued, and, notably, KUA head coach Tim Whitehead didn't put up much of a protest. "I thought it was a goal," he said. But he knew he wasn't going to win the argument, and didn't want to disrupt his team's focus. The second period ended with the Wildcats ahead, 3-1.
In the third, Cushing reverted to its first-period form of generating scoring chances. Not at the rate they had in the second, but enough to prompt Whitehead to call a time-out midway through the period in an effort to slow the Penguins' momentum. It worked. Cushing was kept at bay. With Bilic (21 saves) pulled for the extra skater, KUA drained a full-ice empty-netter for the 4-1 final.
The star of the game — along with Sadowski — was McMeniman, who handled all but one of the 31 shots Cushing sent on net, and all seemingly with ease.
For Cushing, it was another season that fell just short of the elusive Elite 8 title. For KUA, five years removed from completing an Elite 8 three-peat ('17, '18, '19), it's a return to the pinnacle of prep hockey.
***
LARGE SCHOOL CHAMPIONSHIP
#5 Kent Wins Large School Title; Edging #3 Dexter, 3-2:DiGiulian, Hopewell Shine
Kent senior forward Gio DiGiulian's game-winner, with 47 seconds left in regulation, lifted #5 Kent to a 3-2 victory -- and a Large School title -- over #3 Dexter. The win marked a return to the top for Kent, which, after a disappointing finish in 2023, clinches its third NEPSIHA Large School championship trophy in five seasons.
On Sunday, the Lions needed every last one of senior goalie Aiden Hopewell's saves, and, despite being outshot for the game, got three timely goals and never trailed. Dexter dominated time of possession in the first period, but didn't connect on enough passes to generate many real scoring chances. When they did create opportunities, Hopewell handled them with calm and confidence. At the other end, Kent's forays were few and fleeting.
One of those trips, though, came shortly before the midway point of the first period, and DiGiulian made it count. After Kent made a rare break out of the defensive zone, the Cornell recruit, skating with great speed in transition, slid a wrist shot along the ice and through the five-hole of Dexter's sophomore goalie Colin Davis. 1-0, Lions.
Dexter, down a goal despite carrying much of the play to that point, needed just 24 seconds to respond. Their answer came when sophomore defenseman Matthew Hines, from the left point, lobbed a soft wrist shot — and 'shot' might be a generous description — into the slot. The puck hit a body in front of the crease, Hopewell never saw it, and it fell into the bottom right corner of the cage. Dexter kept up the pressure for the remainder of the period, and started to tighten up its passing, yet nothing further materialized in the opening stanza.
Nobody scored in the second, but it was undoubtedly Dexter's period. They outshot the Lions 13-7 in the period. In one instance, sophomore Jake Assad corralled a rebound in the slot and flung a wrist shot on net with nobody around him. Hopewell, sliding to his right, made the stop. Five minutes later, the Lions dodged another bullet when Dexter junior Nathan Porter came screaming down the right side, got in on goal uncontested -- and then flipped a shot off the post. All square after two.
Dexter had a great chance at its first lead when Porter took a pass right on the doorstep with Hopewell out of position. As Porter fluttered a shot towards the left post, Kent's senior netminder sprawled to his right, stopping the puck and sealing the net mouth with his body.
Davis, Dexter's goalie, was good too, but Kent caught a break when he left his cage to pursue a loose puck along the goal line to the left of his cage. Before Davis could corral it, Kent senior Jack Roberts, from the seat of his pants, whacked a pass into the slot. There, all senior Owen Mahar had to do was knock it into the empty net. And he did exactly that. Dexter, despite its significant advantage in shots for the game, stared defeat in the face again. Again, they responded.
With less than six minutes remaining, Dexter sophomore Joseph Marchi took a pass from Assad at his own blue line, tore up the boards along the right wing, blew past a Kent backchecker and fired the equalizer over Hopewell's glove to make it 2-2.
For the next five minutes, the chances were split evenly between the two sides, although none posed any real threat to either goalie. As the clock wound down into the final minute, the game, like last year's Large School title tilt between Taft and Salisbury, seemed destined for OT. Gio DiGiulian had other ideas.
With less than 50 seconds left, Kent forced a turnover in the Dexter zone. DiGiulian, not 20 feet from the goal, found the puck on his tape with his back facing the net. In one fluid motion, the senior turned 180 degrees and flung a wrist shot past Davis for a 3-2 lead.
In the final minute, Dexter head coach Dan Donato yanked his goalie for the extra attacker, but Kent's blue-liners didn't allow anything through to the net, and, when the final horn blared, Hopewell threw his hands to the air and looked to the arena's rafters. His team, which wilted down the stretch last season and struggled through a six-game losing streak this February, was back on top.
***
SMALL SCHOOL CHAMPIONSHIP
#3 Canterbury Edges #1 Rivers;
Stratton, Pitts Lead the Way
Behind an assertion of physicality, dominance on special teams, and a 23-save outing from junior goalie Maxim Pitts, Canterbury topped Rivers, 3-1, for its first boys' hockey title since winning the Div. I crown in 1997.
On paper, the showdown between top-seeded Rivers and third-seeded Canterbury didn't appear to be a mismatch. The Red Wings entered the postseason with a 17-9-1 record; the Saints 18-10-2. Each turned in a convincing offensive performance to reach the Small School title game. But on Sunday, when blades hit the ice at Harvard's Bright-Landry Hockey Center, the dynamic of the game became clear. Rivers, a team that got more than 65% of its scoring from underclassmen, was, at least initially, overmatched against Canterbury's bigger, stronger group comprised of 18 upperclassmen.
In the first, Canterbury's physicality went largely unmatched, and the Saints flaunted their size advantage on special teams. Just over eight minutes in, with his team on the power play, Canterbury post-grad Duncan Stewart, alone with a grade-A chance in the slot, hammered a wrist shot off the right post. A little over a minute later, though, with eight ticks left on the man advantage, Saints' sophomore defenseman Logan Martel took a pass in the high slot, waited for a Rivers' defender to slide by, then flung a wrist shot past Red Wings senior goalie Jason Delehoy, blocker side.
Now holding a 1-0 lead, Canterbury further dialed up its intensity and, while the Saints' physicality didn't dwindle, their scoring for the period did. Delehoy kept the Red Wings in the game, halting several good chances for Canterbury to extend its lead, including a few scrums around his crease.
Early in the second, once again a man up, Canterbury set up in the Rivers end and found paydirt when, after rapid tic-tac-toe puck movement in front of the blue paint, post-grad Jackson Powers dished across the crease to senior Ryan Stratton. The Saints' captain, with an open goal mouth calling, knocked it in. 2-0, Canterbury.
From there, the game's dynamic changed. Rivers, a small and young but quick and fleet-skating team, began to settle in and, for the first time all day, started playing the brand of hockey that got it to Championship Sunday. Before the midpoint of the period, Red Wings' junior Will Hatten caused a neutral-zone turnover and, skating three-on-one into the offensive end, opted for a wrist shot as opposed to a pass for a trailing teammate. He tucked the puck in the far corner of the cage, past the outstretched right pad of Canterbury goalie Maxim Pitts. Suddenly, Freddy Meyer's team was back in the game, and had all the momentum.
In the latter half of the second, Rivers kept the pressure on, extending its trips into its opponent's end and, although it didn't crack the scoreboard again, was clearly -- finally -- playing its game. On the visiting bench, Canterbury head coach Padraic McCarthy, who won a Div. I New England title in his senior year with the Saints (1994), was nervous. With just over a minute left in the second, the 19-year bench boss burned his only timeout -- and his team escaped the middle frame with a one-goal lead.
The third was the game's most evenly played period. Both offenses created legitimate scoring threats, but both goaltenders stood tall. The turning point came with just under six minutes left when Canterbury's Jake Stevens and Powers committed consecutive penalties in a 90-second span. The throng of Red Wing student supporters, their team about to embark on 30 seconds of five-on-three hockey, appeared tense. Rivers won the draw in the offensive zone, but, within 15 seconds, Saints senior d-man Logan Goodman had the puck pinned in the corner, allowing the penalty to Stevens to expire. With the remaining minute-and-a-half of power play time, Rivers had a few good chances, most notably a Carter Meyer weak-side slapshot that sailed over the crossbar and off the boards behind Pitts.
The rest of the way, Pitts stopped everything Rivers sent in his direction. Senior Sam Ciappa potted an empty-netter in the final minute and Canterbury had its first boys' hockey title since the Large Small/Small School format was introduced a decade ago, and the first since winning the Division-I crown almost 30 years ago.
Sun. 3/3/24
NEPSAC Boys' Hockey Tournament
* Championship Sunday *
Sunday, March 3, 2024
At Bright Hockey Center; Harvard University
Livestream (all games): https://bbiglive.com/nepsac
STUART/CORKERY (ELITE 8):
#1 Cushing vs. #2 Kimball Union, 5:00 pm -- Kimball Union, 4-1 (Final)
MARTIN/EARL (LARGE SCHOOLS):
#3 Dexter vs. #5 Kent, 2:30 pm -- Kent, 3-2 (Final)
PIATELLI/SIMMONS (SMALL SCHOOLS):
#1 Rivers vs. #3 Canterbury, 12:00 pm -- Canterbury, 3-1 (Final)
Sat. 3/2/24
NEPSAC Boys' Hockey Tournament
* Semifinals Highlights *
Saturday, March 2, 2024
ELITE 8:
@ (#2) Kimball Union 4, (#6) Salisbury 3 (OT)
Just as in Wednesday's quarterfinal win over St. George's, KUA once again went to OT, this time knocking off Salisbury, 4-3, on an unassisted goal by senior Jack Sadowski. It was the UNH recruit's -- and USHR's Player of the Year -- second goal of the game to go along with an assist.
After a scoreless first period, KUA senior Sam LeDrew, a St. Lawrence recruit who plays the opposite wing from Sadowski on a line centered by junior Corwith Simmers, scored a powerplay goal midway through the second to put KUA up 1-0.
At 11:07 of the third period, Sadowski scored on an outside shot, with assists going to Jack McMinn and Andrew O'Sullivan.
Things were looking good for the Wildcats, carrying a two-goal lead with under seven minutes to play on home ice. But the picture wasn't so rosy for Salisbury. Crimson Knights' head coach Andrew Will called a time-out and marshaled his forces.
Thirty-three seconds later, Salisbury made it a one-goal game on PG defenseman Zach Walsh's goal. Forty-two seconds after that Jared Rothman tied it up. And forty-eight seconds after that, Duke Gentzler gave Salisbury a 3-2 lead. Bing-bing-bing, Three goals in a minute-and-a-half. And a one-goal lead with under five minutes to play.
But KUA didn't roll over. Less than three minutes later, they regained the momentum when Wildcats' senior Jack Baar, who'd been out with an injury since January and was just cleared to play, tied things up at 16:07 of the third.
The game went to OT, Sadowski scored and KUA is on to the Elite 8 Championship Game tomorrow against Cushing, a 5:00 pm start at Harvard.
@ (#1) Cushing 4, (#4) Avon Old Farms 1
A third-period goal from Cushing junior forward Max Dineen broke a 1-1 tie and turned out to be the game-winner as the host Penguins would add a couple of late empty-netters for a 4-1 win over Avon Old Farms in a matchup of last season's Elite 8 Championship game, which was won by Avon.
In what was an excellent prep semi in front of a packed house at Cushing's Iorio Arena, the Penguins came out aggressively, taking the first seven shots of the game and pinning Avon in its end. However, Avon turned it around, taking the next half-dozen shots and connecting for the game's first goal when senior Ryan Flaherty took a pass from classmate Lefty Markonidis and released a long wrister from the left faceoff circle that beat Cushing senior G Marko Bilic through a screen at 10:52.
Less than two minutes later, Cushing struck for a goal of its own as PG Tanner Hunt converted a pass from senior AJ Sacco off a rush by Brendan Agnew at 12:40. From there, it was 'game on' as there would be nearly 30 minutes of scoreless -- though compelling -- play before Dineen's game-winner. Both teams played tight hockey, with excellent play in the neutral zone and in defending their end.
"I thought our team D was pretty good," Cushing head coach Paul Pearl said. "That was as well as we've played without the puck this season."
There was controversy less than four minutes into the third when it appeared that Avon took a 2-1 lead as Brendan Tighe scored on a low wrister from the slot that beat Bilic low glove-side. However, seconds before that sequence, the puck appeared to hit a stantion, but Pearl said it hit the chest of one of his players on the bench and rebounded onto the ice. The officials waved the goal off. Avon head coach John Gardner protested, but to no avail.
Less than two minutes later, Cushing PG Bronson Hunt, on the forecheck, forced a turnover behind the Avon net. Senior Emerson Marshall picked it up and made the pass out front to junior Max Dineen, who made it 2-1 -- and that was all the scoring Cushing needed.
Kole Hyles and Dineen would add empty-netters in the final two minutes for the final 4-1 margin of victory.
Both goalies were outstanding. Cushing senior G Marco Bilic (18/19) earned the win; Avon sophomore Anthony Palmer (31/33) took the hard-luck loss.
After the game, Avon's Gardner said if his team had won it all, that he would retire. But that didn't happen, so he'll be back to continue his storied career for another year. That's good news for prep hockey.
LARGE SCHOOLS:
@ (#3) Dexter 3, (#7) Andover 1
Dexter sophomore G Colin Davis kicked out 33 shots, and Dexter got one goal in each period -- two from Cullen Emery, the second of which was a 5x3; and one from Tyler Hamilton, also a 5x3 -- to gain a trip to the Large School Championship against #5 Kent Sunday.
Junior Nathan Porter assisted on two of Dexter's goals.
Andover's only goal, a PPG, came off the stick of freshman Alex Theodore.
Andover senior G Ben Skowronek (29/32) played well in the loss.
@ (#5) Kent 5, (#8) Berkshire 4
By late in the second period, Kent had built a 4-0 lead and looked to be cruising, but Berkshire scored four of the next five goals (two on the powerplay) and, trailing 5-4, was within one goal of tying things up with three and a half minutes remaining.
Alas, the Bears could get no closer and it'll be the Lions advancing to the Large School Championship, facing Dexter at 2:30 pm Sunday.
For Kent, which was outshot, 36-25, Luke Dow (1g,1a), Gio DiGiulian (1g,1a), Patrick Walsh (1g,1a) and Owen Mahar (2a) each had two points. Stefano Pietrantonio and Nathan DiChiara each had single goals.
For Berkshire, Josh Williams (1g,1a) led the scorers. Evan Regan, Stephen Campbell, and Duncan Thompson had single goals.
Kent senior G Aidan Hopewell (32/36) picked up the win. Berkshire went with their seniors: Kyle Bolduc (17/21) for the first two periods, and Tommy Adams (3/4) relieving him in the third.
SMALL SCHOOLS:
@ (#1) Rivers 5, (#4) Frederick Gunn 0
Rivers seniors Jacob Kulas (2g,2a) and goaltender Jason Delehoy (20/20) led the way for the Red Wings. Jonathan Rivard, Will Hatten, and Carter Meyer added single goals.
Rivers advances to the Small School Championship against #3 Canterbury on Sunday at noon.
@ (#3) Canterbury 3, (#7) Pomfret 2
The Saints peppered Pomfret's senior G Beau Johnson with 49 shots. Only three eluded him, but that was enough for Canterbury to advance to the Small School Championship vs. #1 Rivers on Sunday at noon.
Despite the 49-18 shot differential, Pomfret hung in there. Every time Canterbury scored, Pomfret came back with a goal of its own. But when Canterbury senior F Patrick Heslin scored at 7:42 of the third, Pomfret had no answer.
Canterbury senior D Jake Stevens, with a goal and two assists, led all scorers. Canterbury junior G Maxim Pitts(16/18) picked up the win.
The schedule for Championship Sunday at Harvard's Bright Hockey Center:
Small School Championship -- #1 Rivers vs. #3 Canterbury, 12:00 pm
Large School Championship -- #3 Dexter vs. #5 Kent, 2:30 pm
Elite 8 Championship -- #1 Cushing vs. #2 Kimball Union, 5:00 pm
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