Canton, MA – In what is becoming an annual tradition, our first regular season game of the year is being played between two pre-season heavyweights in their respective divisions. This year we have traded venues as the D2 Canton Bulldogs are hosting the D1 Lincoln-Sudbury Warriors. Last year’s contest was an OT thriller won by LS 5-4 and it was one of the best games we watched all year. We figured we might as well come down to check out the new Ponky for ourselves and take in the rematch.
In the first period, there was a palpable feel in the barn with two raucous fan sections and both family sections were engaged early. It didn’t take us long from the time we settled into our seat to see the action take off. Both teams were jumping and throwing big hits out of the gate. Ultimately Canton got out of the gate quickest just three minutes in as they earned a power play and senior D James Young dished off to junior sniper Brendan Tourgee at the top of the circle to give the Bulldogs a 1-0 lead. The momentum of the game was very fluid for the remainder of the period with both teams having Grade A chances, breakaways and the action was furious up and down the ice. Just before time expired Canton potted one more as junior F Colin Blake fired a shot from just inside the blue line that the LS freshman goalie would love to have back. 2-0 Canton was our score after 1.
In the middle frame, it started out a bit weird with both scoreboards going blank just before puck drop. After a quick 2-minute delay we were back in action. From the start you could see that Lincoln-Sudbury came out of the room with a renewed sense of purpose. It only took 1:20 for the Warriors to break the seal. Freshman forward Rocco Cook did just that on a set play right off the faceoff with a quick shot that slipped home five hole, 2-1 was now the score. Following that goal it gave more life to the comeback effort for the Warriors, however, the Bulldogs were undaunted: creating a number of quality chances at the other end and crashing the net. Despite more back-and-forth play, the momentum stood with Lincoln-Sudbury by the end of the frame. It’s anyone’s game headed into the third.
In the final stanza, the Warriors continued to make strides and put pressure on Canton. They secured a power play roughly three minutes into the frame and cashed in as silky mitts senior forward Frankie DeTraglia one-touched the puck over to senior defender Drew Oblak who fired a bullet from below the dots to tie the game at 2-2. From that point forward, both teams continued to trade chances. The physicality continued to pick up and as time began to wear away each team began to take more chances. Both netminders came up big down the stretch: sophomore Colin Davis for Canton and freshman Jesse Rich for Lincoln-Sudbury. Despite a few rebound chances in front of both nets, neither team was able to break the tie…onto OT we went for the second straight season in the opener between these two.
In the extra session, playing 4-on-4, both teams pushed the pace and went all out to secure the game-winner. Yet again, the physicality was high as the tensions began to rise and it led to an infraction that changed the shape of this OT period. A tripping call was assessed to Lincoln-Sudbury which led Canton to call timeout and work on some strategy with roughly a minute remaining. In a big faceoff win, Tourgee won the puck back to his defenseman to secure possession and the Bulldogs would not give it back. They kept it in the zone and a shot from the point deflected down low to Tourgee, who dished it back up top to junior defenseman Matt Anderson, who fired a shot home top shelf from just inside the blue line, sending the student fan section into a frenzy.
Final score: Canton 3, Lincoln-Sudbury 2. The Warriors get back in action on Wednesday at home against North Andover while Canton will head down to the Cape to take on Barnstable next Saturday.
Three Stars
- D Matt Anderson, Canton
- F Brendan Tourgee, Canton
- D Drew Oblak, Lincoln-Sudbury