Haverhill, MA – Tonight we opened the Round of 16 at Haverhill Valley Forum in the D2 bracket as the 4 seed Masconomet Chieftains took on the 13 seed Quincy Presidents. This was a great matchup between two teams that like to play fast and finish their checks. There was a palpable feel for this game. Both schools brought big fan sections – we heard that Quincy brought two student busses and got a police escort for the players coming up while we saw representatives of at least three different varsity teams from Masconomet here to support their classmates. This was the loudest venue we’ve heard so far – a true electric factory from beginning to end. Oh yeah, there was a game going on too…let’s talk about that.
In the first period, both teams looked to put home some early daggers – it was firewagon hockey for the first 10 minutes as both teams traded chances and had pucks trickle wide of the goal line at both ends after strong rushes and netfront plays. Both teams were leaving it all on the ice and both wanted the upper hand right from Jump Street. It turns out that a rebound chance would break the seal on this one as a senior defender Matt McMillan put a shot on net that bounced into the slot where junior forward Jack Mertz was waiting and pounced on a one-timer: 1-0 Masco. There would be a few additional chances in the final five minutes by both sides, including a Masconomet breakaway at the end of the period that Quincy’s senior goalie Danny Freeman was able to challenge at the top of the circle and sacrifice his body to end the threat. Great action at both ends.
In the second period, we saw more high-flying offensive action but the physicality started to pick up as the period went along. The scoring in the period started quickly as Quincy drew a penalty with its hustle two and a half minutes in and cashed in off the faceoff as junior forward Will Martin walked to the slot and buried five-hole to tie up the game. Controversy ensued just 15 seconds later as Masconomet worked the puck down low and the net was pushed off its moorings as Freeman went post-to-post and junior forward Mike Bevilacqua banged it home, much to the dismay of the large Quincy fan section. The goal would stand following a referee conference and on we went. From there, both sides had their fair share of chances but Masco would cash in six minutes later as Mertz broke in on a 2-on-1 rush and slipped a puck over to senior forward Ben Cohen driving the net heading to the left post: 3-1 Masco. Quincy came back after the goal and generated a couple of looks but Masco was able to clamp down defensively, outlet the puck quickly and dump the puck in deep to win races. They would pad their lead with a minute and a half left in the frame as McMillan sprung star sophomore AJ Sacco on a partial breakaway to make it 4-1 Masco heading into the third and final frame.
In the third period, Quincy looked to put the pressure on and they came out hard to start the frame and not only looked to win footraces but to also be heavier on the puck. They were very good at doing so in their own zone but Masco’s defense at the other end was quick to find routes out of the zone, which limited quality looks. There wasn’t much scoring to speak of in the third because both goalies came up big when Grade A scoring chances came up: Freeman for the Presidents and Nick Santangelo for the Chieftains. The final tally would come on what else: an odd-man rush up ice. With three minutes to go, Sacco drove to the net but was unable to get a quality shot off so instead he found the trailer Chris O’Grady with a nice backhand feed behind the back for the score: 5-1 Chieftains would be your final. Masconomet now awaits the winner of Duxbury and Dartmouth on Wednesday to see who they play in the Elite 8.
Three Stars:
- F Jack Mertz, Masconomet
- F AJ Sacco, Masconomet
- D Matt McMillan, Masconomet