North Billerica, MA – In our second Semifinal on the evening, we had another stellar matchup as second-seeded Tewksbury Redmen were taking on 6th-seeded Westwood Wolverines to decide who would punch their ticket to TD Garden. This matchup was largely a home game for Tewksbury, located right down the road but full credit to the Wolverines who brought a massive fan section. They were clad in all black and the Tewksbury students were all dressed in bright high-visibility gear. Both teams were flying in warmups and ready for the big moment. We were ready for more hockey.
In the first period, both teams came out with purpose and conviction. It was one of the faster-paced games we have seen all season and both teams were going all out looking to get that first goal. As the clock ticked forward, the Redmen began to take control and just four minutes in they would cash in. A nice play at the point by junior Jake Cunha led to a rocket of a shot pass down low to junior Kevin Andriolo who tapped it home to make it 1-0. Westwood would shut down several additional Redmen chances thanks to the quick feet of senior Sean Joyce who was able to limit the damage for long stretches throughout this game. He would hold Tewksbury off for another nine minutes before they would double their lead. It took an impressive individual effort by senior stud Tyler Bourgea who wound it up from the defensive zone, cruised through three Westwood players, cut to the net and buried it far post. The score was 2-0 Redmen and the student section was living it up: even chanting warm up the bus with two full periods left to go. The Redmen would take that two-goal advantage to the locker room.
In the second period, you could tell how ticked off the Wolverines were with how the opening period went, and they did something about it right away on the opening shift. Just 18 seconds in, it all started with junior Nolan Lewis who found an open junior Matty Donovan who put a quick shot on net and there to gather the rebound was junior Luke Martin and he cut the lead to 2-1. The Wolverines were looking to build on that momentum in the early minutes of the period, but Tewksbury would have an answer three minutes later. It was senior Jackson Feudo who handed the puck to fellow senior Michael Macauda up the left wing and he took a shot that trickled just over Joyce’s shoulder to make it 3-1. It was a deflating moment for Westwood, but there was no panic on the bench and the Wolverines went right to work and started to tilt the ice in their favor, especially when the top line for Tewksbury wasn’t on the ice. Six minutes after Tewksbury had restored their lead, Westwood came right back. A quick shot on goal by junior Ben Sicular created a juicy rebound that junior Connor Blaney found in the slot and he ripped it home to cut the lead back down to one. As it happened all night, Tewksbury would respond just three minutes later to restore the lead. There was a loose puck available on the half wall and junior Aaron Sosa was first to grab it. He turned and fired and the puck had eyes to find it’s way past Joyce to make it a 4-2 game with a minute to go. That would be our score after two.
In the third period it was do-or-die time for the Wolverines and they put forward their biggest push of the night. They started the period strong and created a couple of quality looks, but the momentum would quickly find the Redmen as they would pad their lead 3:36 into the frame. A pass to the corner from junior Jason Shreenan found Andriolo along the goal line and he fired a laser bar down to give Tewksbury the 5-2 lead that felt insurmountable. The Wolverines once again regrouped and made another push, but sophomore Cole Abruzi in net was solid and refused to let anything by him. The game took on a back-and-forth punch and counterpunch style thereafter with the teams trading looks but neither was able to convert. The clock continued to tick down and with 3:40 Coach Sebet called his timeout to give his players a breather and the talk strategy down three goals. The Wolverines would pull their goalie shortly after looking to tighten this one up. They would create a couple of quality looks, but again, Abruzi was there to shut them down. Two minutes elapsed and the pressure finally paid off as Martin found Blaney below the dots and he ripped one off the left post and in to make it 5-3 with 1:25 left to go. Initially, the Redmen saved their timeout, electing to take the next faceoff, but they would call it on the next whistle with 59.9 left in the game. From there, Westwood again looked for the goal to cut the lead to one. There were a couple of nice setups in front, but none that found the net. Tewksbury punched their ticket to TD Garden where they will await the winner of tomorrow’s Semifinal between Canton and Burlington.
Three Stars:
- F Kevin Andriolo, Tewksbury
- F Tyler Bourgea, Tewksbury
- F Connor Blaney, Westwood