Arlington, MA – Ed Burns Arena had a busy Sunday afternoon as we were able to stick around and cover the last game of the day between the Harbormen of Hingham and the Red and Black of Winchester as part of the Ed Burns Coffee Pot Tournament.
The first period started with Hingham coming out and dominating the opening couple of minutes with good zone time in their first few shifts and getting each line involved in the attack. Both sides would trade shot-for-shot with 10 minutes to go as Winchester tried to battle back but Hingham was able to keep the puck down in Winchester zone most of the period and with around five minutes to go sophomore forward Travis Rugg collected a rebound and buried it up top off a great wrist shot, assisted by senior forward Connor Walsh to give Hingham a 1-0 lead. Winchester would respond after the goal with two good scoring opportunities off of 2-on-1 rushes but would go into the intermission down by one as the period ended 1-0 Hingham.
The second period brought a whole new change to the game with both sides coming out flying, getting shots on net, pucks in deep and more physical play started to happen down low in the offensive zones. Hingham would continue to dominate the play most of the second period, getting every forward and defenseman involved in all three zones and really start to build up the offensive zone time in the Winchester end. Red and Black sophomore goalie Max Lowenberg was great all period, keeping his team down by one with some great saves with five minutes to go in the second. Winchester would not go away towards the end of the second as they played some good defense and started to turn it into offensive pressure but Hingham would close the period with some solid defense of their own and head into the intermission still up 1-0 at the end of two.
Third period would bring us another quick start with Hingham again getting all over Winchester in their defensive zone and applying the pressure to possibly increase their lead. Hingham would continue to keep the puck in the Winchester zone for most of the period, giving no space to anyone from Winchester to break out and get into the offensive zone. Winchester knew they had to get one with under five minutes left in the period so they started attempting more long passes to the red line to at least get the puck deep to build some sort of pressure in the Hingham end. Winchester was successful and really started to take it to Hingham in the remaining minutes of the period with shots coming in from all angles in the Hingham end. It got down to the final six seconds in the third with a offensive zone faceoff for Winchester at the left circle and the Red and Black was able to win it and get it back to their defenseman for a quick slap shot that was kicked out to the top of the left circle where sophomore defenseman Jack Duncan slapped it back towards goal and scored. Duncan was able to get it towards goal with a screen in front and slide it through the five hole with 0.8 seconds left on the clock to send this game to overtime tied at 1-1.
The overtime period would give Winchester a lot of energy as they came out flying in the 4-on-4 period with two great chances to start but Hingham big senior goalie Luke Merian would come up with two great saves to keep it tied at one a piece. Hingham took control around halfway through the overtime period and never looked back. With under a minute to play junior forward Aidan Brazel made a great play to roll off the half wall to give junior forward Bill Jacobus a great chance to pull off a quick forehand-backhand move in front of the net after cutting in from the corner and end the game in favor of Hingham with a final score of 2-1.
Three Stars:
- F Bill Jacobus, Hingham
- F Travis Rugg, Hingham
- G Max Lowenberg, Winchester