Arlington, MA – We at MassNZ wanted to sneak in a game before the impending snowstorm that would strike this evening and the perfect opportunity came at Ed Burns Arena as the Arlington Catholic Cougars hosted the Barnstable Hawks in a rare matchup north of Boston for the Cape Cod-based Hawks. We couldn’t pass it up, so we snagged a parking spot out front (a minor miracle!) after making three trips around the parking lot and made our way in to catch all the action. The stands were a bit empty this afternoon, but to be expected given that everyone was likely out buying milk, bread, batteries and other essentials…but we digress…
In the first period, both teams took a few minutes to settle in, except for Barnstable star forward Chase Field who rang the crossbar twice on the power play in the first two minutes right off the bat. Those unlucky breaks for Barnstable would be their best scoring chances of the period as Arlington Catholic largely owned the puck possession and was quite stingy defensively. That defense turned to offense just five minutes into the game as sophomore defender Sam Mathews fired a puck on net that produced a rebound that junior forward David Santo was prepared to scoop home: 1-0 Cougars. The remainder of the period featured a lot of neutral zone turnovers and a handful of quality shots on net between both teams. When the initial 15 minutes had elapsed, the Cougars owned the momentum, heading to the room up by a goal.
In the second period, Barnstable made a push and connected a few outlet passes that turned into odd-man rushes up ice. None of which ultimately found the back of the net, but they were making more progress than the period before. The Cougars were able to close down gaps, get sticks into passing lanes and their physicality was a tough matchup for the entire period. That defensive effort was rewarded midway through the frame as we had an all Mulligan entry on the scoresheet. On the power play, junior forward Jax Mulligan teed up his brother, junior defender Tiger (aka Prescott) Mulligan who fired one home from the point to double the Cougars lead to 2-0. From there, AC goaltender Alex Gosselin-Neves was able to shut the door and keep the Hawks off the scoreboard. We would advance to the third period at 2-0 Cougars.
In the final frame, the momentum began to shift as Barnstable stepped up their forecheck and got a few fortunate bounces to climb back into the game. A minute and 42 seconds in, a slick cross-ice pass by Owen Jones to Danny Garlington resulted in a goal that cut the lead in half: 2-1 in favor of the Cougars. The Hawks were flying high at this point and winning more races to pucks while taking possession in the neutral zone and turning that into offense. The Cougars were still stingy and created a couple of good chances at the net front but goalie Bob Doherty was equal to the task and covered up quickly. The middle of the period was back and forth but Barnstable would knot things up on a nice play by Field who drove to the net and subtlely made a drop pass at the left post for senior Anthony Tambascia who took the first whack at it but Colin Coombs followed up the play to put it home and tie this thing up. The rest of the frame was a stalemate on the scoreboard, but Barnstable was assessed a late penalty and we would need extra time to solve this one: putting them down 4-on-3 to start the OT.
In the extra frame, Barnstable gained some momentum by killing the penalty to return to 4-on-4 full strength and then went to work along the walls. Senior Ian DeVito knocked a puck loose just inside his defensive blue line and poked it to space where Field could skate into it at the red line. The two of them went in together on a 2-on-1 odd-man break and Field looked off the defender and goalie, faking as if he was going to dish it and then fired a rocket up top to win the game for Barnstable: 3-2 was our final.
Three Stars:
- F Chase Field, Barnstable
- F Ian DeVito, Barnstable
- D Tiger (Prescott) Mulligan, Arlington Catholic