Arlington, MA – It is that time of the year: playoff hockey is here and we’re at Ed Burns Arena where the Arlington Spy Ponders hosted the Franklin Panthers. This game started like any playoff hockey game should very fast past and physical and it didn’t take long at all for the Spy Ponders to get their offense going when sophomore Casey Yunes found himself sitting right out front with the puck on his stick and ripped it right by the glove of the Panthers goaltender to make it a 1-0 game early. Just a few minutes later one of the Panthers’ defensemen sent a puck right up the middle and it was picked off at the blue line, walked into the slot and ripped on net but a big save by senior goaltender Jack O’Connor to keep this game at 1-0. With just under six and a half minutes left in the first period, JP Messuri rushed the puck into the offensive zone and shot one from the top of the circles that was able to beat the Panthers goaltender blocker side to give the Spy Ponders a 2-0 lead with some time to play in the first. As the clock was winding down in the first period the Panthers got a great chance to climb back into this game when Carter Balducci found a rebound sitting in the slot and ripped it on net but it was ultimately denied by the Spy Ponders’ goalie to keep this a 2-0 game as the first came to an end.
As the second period got underway something must have been said in the Panther locker room as they were attacking hard in the offensive zone for the first two minutes of the period trying to cut this lead down to 1. But the momentum shifted back to the Spy Ponders as they tried to add to this lead by moving the puck around the Panthers’ zone and looking to find the back of the net. Then a Spy Ponders defenseman tried to rip one on net, but there was a big block by a Panthers defender which got some life going in the Panthers bench. With just over six minutes to play in this second period, the Panthers took a penalty and it didn’t take long at all just 12 seconds into the power play as junior Nolan Russell found himself sitting right out front by himself with the puck on his stick and tucked it around the Panthers goaltender to give the Spy Ponders a 3-0 lead. Just over a minute later the Panthers were going on the power play with a chance to crawl their way back into this game. The Panthers worked to move the puck around the zone trying to get shots to the net but the Spy Ponders were stingy on the kill blocking multiple shots. The momentum shifted right back to the Spy Ponders as they were back in the Panthers zone but a couple of big saves by the Panthers goaltender to keep this game the same score. There was just over a minute left in the period as Armen Vartanian skated into the Panthers’ zone and walked right around the defenseman to get into the slot where he put one on net to beat the Panthers goalie high glove side: 4-0. With the period winding down, Russell threw a pass right out front to Messuri where he was able to get a stick on it to poke it five-hole and give the Spy Ponders a 5-0 lead with two seconds left.
As the third period began, the Spy Ponders came out flying and not even two minutes into the period Armen Vartanian was sitting open in the slot to one-time the puck into the back of the net to give the Spy Ponders a 6-0 lead. Just two minutes later Messuri found a rebound sitting in front and was able to find the back of the net to put the Spy Ponders up 7-0. Halfway through the third period, the Panthers found themselves in the offensive zone. As one of the Panthers defensemen put a puck on net it found Tom Quinn’s stick on the way to the net and the puck trickled through the five-hole of the Spy Ponders goaltender to make this a 7-1 game. But shortly after, the Panthers gave the Spy Ponders another power play to kill the momentum. As the Spy Ponders moved the puck around the zone a Panthers forward stole a pass to go in on the breakaway and tried to go forehand/backhand but was denied. As the clock wound down in this game the Spy Ponders were able to maintain their 7-1 lead to advance to the Sweet 16 where they would face either St. Mary’s Lynn or Waltham.
Three Stars:
- F JP Messuri, Arlington
- F Nolan Russell, Arlington
- F Armen Vartanian, Arlington