Marlboro, MA – We made the trip out to New England Sports Center tonight to catch two of the top teams in their respective divisions: the Hopkinton Hillers from D2 and the Medfield Warriors out of D3. Each team comes into tonight’s game with at least 14 wins and a combined total of 29 wins between them. Who would leave with win number 30? 45 minutes would allow us to answer that question.
In the first period, both teams were jumpy to get over the boards and contribute and that led to a few missed passes, overskating the puck and a few mishandles as well. There were multiple turnovers in each attacking zone but as we got deeper into the frame, the physicality picked up, as did the sharpness of play. Both teams were able to create high-quality chances around the net and there were a few rebounds to be had, but both goalies were able to cover before further damage occurred. We went to the room after 15 minutes with the score 0-0 and on we went to the second.
In the middle period, the pace quickened and both teams hardened their resolve. There was more purpose behind each shot, pass and physical contact. The teams traded chances for the first eight minutes but the seal was finally broken just before the ninth minute. Senior forward Joe Carrazza pulled a puck off the wall following a faceoff, walked to the left dot and fired it top shelf to give the Hillers the lead 1-0. Medfield would get that one back just three minutes later as a zone entry by senior forward James Tyer allowed fellow senior forward Connor Matthews to run a pick in the slot, occupying two Hopkinton defenders. That enabled Tyer to conceal his shot up top and he whipped it past the goalie curling around the screen to knot us back up at 1-1. From there both teams took penalties and had to play shorthanded but Hopkinton came within inches of a second goal. With seven seconds to go, a tic-tac-toe passing play led to a puck sitting on the goal line underneath the Medfield netminder and a quick whistle which inevitably resulted in a new faceoff, but not one at center ice as the Hillers had expected. Once again, we were all tied up heading into the final frame.
In the third period, this game really hit the accelerator, both in terms of pace and in the quality of the scoring chances. Both teams were looking to deliver the knockout blow early. Hopkinton had the first crack at it with some remaining power play time, but were unable to cash in. Medfield fed off that energy and would break the tie a minute later as junior defender Zachary Palmer found Kevin Arthur at the back door and he one-timed it home to make it a 2-1 game. Following this goal, the Warriors played to their strength…quite literally. They looked to use their physicality and size advantage every chance they had and they were quick on the forecheck to force Hopkinton to make quick decisions. They were winning the territorial battle and added another score eight minutes later which looked like it might be the dagger. It was that man again, Arthur who stole the puck in the attacking zone and curled around the net, stuffing it under the goalie’s pad to make it 3-1 Medfield with 3:21 left on the clock. That’s when Hopkinton rallied and threw everything they had at the Warriors. Roughly a minute later the momentum shifted in their favor when senior defender Dylan Mansur regrouped in the neutral zone and carried the puck into the zone with speed and proceeded to wire one that pinged off the back bar from the left faceoff dot to make it 3-2 in favor of Medfield with 2:00 exactly remaining in the game. Undaunted, the Hillers pulled their goalie with about a minute remaining and that gave them the 6-on-5 advantage which would help to tie this thing up. Off a faceoff in the attacking zone, freshman Cam MacPherson and Carrazza pushed the puck forward in a scrum toward goal and Johnny on the spot was senior star forward Pavit Mehra who banged the puck home with 54 seconds left to tie the game at 3-3. We would then head to 4-on-4 OT to determine a winner.
In the early minutes of the OT period, Hopkinton had all the possession and generated all the pressure, they were owning the momentum and playing fast and aggressive hockey. There were a few quality chances, but none were able to solve senior goalie Andrew Ladd. The game would instead end on a play at the point where a bouncing puck lept over the stick of the man covering the point and quick to capitalize was Arthur who burst into the attacking zone and fired a wrister home to give the Warriors the 4-3 win, with Arthur completing the hat trick in 18 minutes of game action. What a great hockey game to watch and solid work by both teams who are clearly poised to make more noise at the State Tournament level next month.
Three Stars:
- F Kevin Arthur, Medfield
- F Joe Carrazza, Hopkinton
- D Dylan Mansur, Hopkinton