BOSTON, MA – Today’s tilt took place between two teams yet to lose in regulation in their league. The Brookline Warriors, who started the day with a league record of 3-0-0 hosted the Braintree Wamps (5-0-1) at Walter Brown Arena for an action-packed game as both teams looked to continue their winning ways.
The game started off rough for Brookline as junior captain Steve MacDougall went down after taking a puck to the leg from a teammate and was helped off the ice. Braintree took advantage of MacDougall’s absence and scored their first goal of the day courtesy of senior center Garrett Coughlin and assisted by sophomore Larry Graziano with 10:11 remaining. The game started getting chippy thereafter and both teams were assessed penalties before time expired on the first. MacDougall was able to return a few shifts later to aide the Brookline offense, but Braintree had the lion’s share of the offensive possession and scoring chances and would end the period on the power play, still up 1-0.
Braintree began the second period hoping to add another tally with 1:57 of power play time left. Brookline was able to successfully kill off the penalty and looked for their first goal of the day. As the intensity grew, Braintree took another penalty but it hardly seemed to affect them as Coughlin tallied his second of the game, a short-handed goal, assisted by Danny Keegan with 9:12 remaining. Only 28 seconds later the Wamps scored again after junior Kyle Hutchinson collected his own rebound after an initial feed from senior Ryan Norton. Just like that the game was 3-0 in Braintree’s favor and after trading power plays late in the period. The Wamps struck again after senior Deni Tabaku put one home, assisted by Keegan with 1:45 left in the frame. Things were looking good for Braintree as they closed out the second up 4-0.
Brookline wasn’t done yet heading into the third. They shook up their lines and MacDougall secured Brookline’s first of the game only 34 seconds in with an assist from Rohan Gervais. MacDougall’s goal lit a fire for Brookline but a minor penalty quelled the momentum. The remainder of this one would prove to be a physical battle and with time winding down Brookline pulled goalie Zach Sneider in an attempt to get another on the board. Moments later, Braintree took a penalty for cross-checking and Brookline chose to play 6-on-4. The Warriors capitalized on this opportunity and made it a 4-2 game off a goal by defenseman Jacob Gurdin, assisted by MacDougall and Caleb Weldon. The Warriors made one final push but it lead to a slew of penalties with 46.7 seconds left, including a major on Brookline. The Wamps used this opportunity to finish it off with an empty net goal from Norton off a pass from Charlie DiMartino making the final score 5-2 Braintree.
Three Stars
- F Garrett Coughlin, Braintree
- F Steve MacDougall, Brookline
- D Ryan Norton, Braintree