Arlington, MA – The Pope Francis Cardinals traveled East to the Ed Burns Arena to take on the Spy Ponders of Arlington High School. Pope Francis came away with the 1-0 victory with a late goal in the third period. The referees let both teams play as no penalties were called all game.
The first period belonged to Pope Francis. Although they didn’t score any goals, they controlled the play and zone time all period. Their forwards did a great job cycling the puck, working it down low in the quiet area behind the net and trying to feed their high forward in the soft areas around the net. They had some quality chances but senior goalie Ryan Martin was solid turning them away. Arlington played a solid defensive zone system keeping a lot of Pope’s chances outside the dots. The Spy Ponders had a couple of offensive chances but spent the majority of the period defending.
The second period proved to be a bit more balanced. Pope had some zone time early, then Arlington started gaining some zone time of their own, not creating a lot of scoring chances collectively but the ice was pretty even. Both teams continued playing their style as Pope Francis pushed the offense and Arlington played more of a defensive game, waiting to capitalize on a mistake or turnover. Arlington was running a 1-3-1 style of neutral zone to slow Pope down and try and create some turnovers, which they did. The Spy Ponders hit a crossbar and a post on a couple of odd-man rushes. Although Martin had more work in terms of shots, Pope junior goalie Nick Ritchie had to make some timely saves to keep the score 0-0 at the end of the second period.
The third period saw Pope go on the offensive once again. They were getting pucks deep and going to work on the Arlington defensemen. Pope was working hard, looking for some space to get to the net, but Arlington packed it in down low and worked hard to limit any lanes to their goalie. Although Pope had more offensive chances, Arlington created a couple of opportunities that were denied by Ritchie. With two minutes left, Pope senior forward Mossy Kearney created a high-quality scoring chance. He carried the puck down the left wing into the Arlington zone, beating the defenseman as he cut in across the top of the crease. He tried to slide one past Martin but was denied on the doorstep. Later, with 1:30 left it looked like this game was going to overtime but Pope had other plans. Arlington had spent a lot of time defending in their zone and Pope made them pay. Junior Nick Petkovich beat the Arlington defenseman to a loose puck on the wall and tipped it down low to junior Nick Burns. Burns sent a pass to the slot that tipped off an Arlington forward and senior captain Jake Jarrell skated down from the blue line to pick up the loose puck. He ripped a shot high over the blocker of Martin to give Pope the 1-0 lead. Arlington pulled Martin and had a couple of shots on net with the time running out but Ritchie shut the door securing Pope’s 1-0 shutout win.
Three Stars:
- G Nick Ritchie, Pope Francis
- D Jake Jarrell, Pope Francis
- G Ryan Martin, Arlington