Arlington, MA – After a clutch dinner at local landmark D’Agostinos Deli, we somehow found parking and made our way into the Ed Burns Arena to check out a primetime 8pm matchup between the Arlington Catholic Cougars and Archbishop Williams Bishops. It was one of the later games on the packed Wednesday game slate for the MIAA and this was our first viewing of the season for both teams. We were intrigued to see what type of game would take shape this evening and we were impressed with the Arlington Catholic student turnout. Not only did they pack the fan section but they had a cheerleading section leading the way from the back corner – well done to the AC Athletics Department for organizing it all. But, we digress, there was a game to play.
In the first period we got our answer: things were a bit helter-skelter. Both teams were creating chances but there were a few turnovers in the neutral zone, some missed passes and a couple of overskated pucks. The bulk of the chances belonged to Archies who peppered shots on junior netminder Patrick Clair but he was able to turn them all away. The opposing goalie was not quite so lucky. Nine minutes into the game junior forward Dante Cosco found some room to roam up the right wing and dished off to the trailing sophomore defender Sam Mathews, who fired one on net that snuck through to make it 1-0 Cougars. The remainder of the frame would be more back-and-forth action with no further dents in the scoreboard. The score after 1 was 1-0 in favor of AC.
In the middle frame, both teams started to get more engaged physically, especially south of the faceoff dots. There were several battles at both ends, but the story of this period was defense. AC was able to pack the middle and deny the majority of Archies shots while conversely, Archies utilized their size and long sticks to create turnovers throughout the frame. The Bishops ended up coming out on the positive side of the ledger, notching a goal two and half minutes into the frame as junior forward Finn Kelly took a pass from his brother Casey and walked across the slot, firing one back against the grain to put it home and tie the score. There were breakaways created by turnovers on both sides in this period but neither team was able to convert. We would wrap the period tied 1-1 and await the third to decide a victor.
In the final stanza, we saw the tide begin to swing the Bishops’ way. AC created a couple of nice chances but the transition length and skating game of Archies was too much to withstand. Just under eight minutes in, Archies broke into the zone 2-on-1 with Ben Sylvester and Finn Kelly and Kelly ripped a bullet past Clair on the back door pass to make it 2-1 Archies. The middle part of the frame saw a couple of game misconducts whistled as the referees tried to keep everything under control. The teams would trade chances again, but Archies would be the one to put the nail in the coffin with two and a half minutes to go as a long outlet pass by senior defenseman Justin Watson reached Finn Kelly who faked shot and got the goalie to bite before sliding it over to Sylvester for the final goal of the evening. Before the game ended, there was a bit of an odd penalty situation as AC was penalized for having six players on the ice and not pulling their goalie following a timeout and a subsequent additional penalty we can only assume for the gift of gab? Very strange indeed, but when the dust settled, Archbishop Williams won this game by a final of 3-1.
Three Stars
- F Finn Kelly, Archbishop Williams
- F Ben Sylvester, Archbishop Williams
- F Dante Cosco, Arlington Catholic