Billerica, MA – We loaded up the wagons for another season opener, this time we trekked over to Hallenborg Rink to see the Billerica Indians open up their season against the Shrewsbury Colonials. This was a rematch of last year’s season opener, won by Billerica 3-1 last December. The stands for this one were filled pretty well for a midweek game with friends, family and students from various Billerica sports teams all in the house.
This game got moving quickly from the opening puck drop. There were some early jitters as both teams opened up their regular season and weren’t quite crisp out of the gate and that led to an early penalty assessed to Shrewsbury which led to the first goal of the game. Junior Colonials forward Andrew Peris poked the puck past the Indians defenseman at the point, cruised in alone on the net and found a trailer at the far post in junior forward Anthony Nuzzolilo: 1-0 Colonials, 2:22 in. Deuces were wild on the scoreboard clock but there would be no second score in the first frame. More penalties were assessed on both sides but neither team was able to generate chances around the net. We entered the middle frame at 1-0.
In the second period, from the initial drop of the puck the Colonials stepped on the gas pedal and did not let up until the clock hit triple zeroes. Just under three minutes into the period, they got started when senior forward Tyler Rondinelli won a battle along the wall and fed junior defenseman Connor Mudd in space who walked to the dot unencumbered and ripped a bullet top shelf: 2-0 Shrewsbury. Following that score, the Colonials continued to own the possession battle and dictated the pace of play. Nine minutes later they would add another as a point shot by junior defenseman Logan Sande was tipped astutely by junior forward Joseph Meyer to make it 3-0. Tips seemed to be en vogue in this period as a minute later junior speedster Andrew Peris put a shot on net that was deflected in front by Nuzzolilo – his second on the night. Our score after 30 minutes was 4-0 Shrewsbury. 15 more minutes would determine if Billerica could mount a comeback.
In the final period, Shrewsbury owned the momentum and put a handful of quality rushes together and generated a couple of quality scoring chances, but ultimately they were unable to solve senior captain netminder Ethan Cliff. As the period wore on, the ice began to tilt more towards Billerica until the dam finally broke with just over five minutes to go as sophomore defenseman Anthony Parella took a shot from the point that Daniel Viscione was able to get a stick on and deflect into the back of the net: 4-1 was now the score. Shortly after that a penalty was assessed to Shrewsbury and Billerica was peppering the net with shots, they came close to cutting the deficit in half but ultimately they were unable to put a 2nd one home. This one ended with a final of Shrewsbury 4, Billerica 1. Both teams will be back in action on Saturday, Billerica takes on Chelmsford and Shrewsbury will face off against Andover.
Three Stars:
- F Anthony Nuzzolilo, Shrewsbury (2G)
- F Andrew Peris, Shrewsbury (2A)
- F Daniel Viscione, Billerica (G)