Nobles vs Lawrence Academy; 1/18/2019; Grank Rink
Groton, MA– The second matchup between Lawrence Academy and Nobles. Last week, LA took game one in convincing fashion with an 8-2 win on the road. Nobles looks to even off the season series.
In net for Lawrence Academy, JR Brandon Milberg (Thornhill, ON) and for Nobles JR Marc Smith (Hanover, MA)
The first period started with a 5 minute power play for Nobles that got killed off by the LA penalty kill units. About half way through the first, Tyler Young (Lancaster, MA) slides it over the Braden Doyle (Lynnfield, MA) for a one timer from the point that beat Smith to give LA the 1-0 lead. With 6 minutes left in the first, Sam Colangelo (Stoneham, MA) moves it to SR forward Ethan Bastien (Natick, MA) who gets to Connor Sweeney (North Andover, MA) for a back-door goal to make it 2-0 LA. There were several chances for both teams in the closing minutes, but period 1 ended 2-0 LA.
The second period was back and forth and both Milberg and Smith made timely saves to keep the score the same until LA punched in a short-handed goal. Ridge Hubbard (Vial, CO) chipped a puck to the neutral zone to find Conor Lovett (Franklin, MA) who slid it cross crease to Holt Oliphant (Northbrook, IL) to make it 3-0 LA with under one minute left in the second. End of two, 3-0 LA.
At the 12:00 mark in the third, Nobles capitalized on the Power Play, Ryan Stevens (Duxbury, MA) slid one underneath Milberg pad to make it 3-1 with plenty of time to play. About 4 minutes later, at the 8:00 mark, Aidan Lyons (Brookline, MA) picked up the puck in his D zone and moved it up the ice to David Jacobs (Needham, MA) who found Robert Lapsley (Needham, MA) and got it to the net for a deflection of a LA to end up in the net and make it 3-2 with lots of time to play. With just about a minute left, Nobles capitalized off a LA turnover in the D zone, Jack Cronin (Hamilton, MA) found Stevens in the slot area to tie it up at 3. End of regulation, 3-3.
The overtime period was back and forth with chances both ways, but it ended in a 3-3 tie. A lot of resilience from Nobles in the third to come out of Lawrence with one point.
Nobles gets back to work today with a non-league game vs Andover. Followed up by a bit in league game with St. Sebastian’s Wednesday. Nobles jumps to 9-5-2 on the year.
LA has the weekend off and has two big Keller matchups next week with Governors and Tabor, followed by Dexter a week from today. LA moves to 8-0-5 and only unbeaten team in prep this year.
Three stars:
1st Ryan Stevens (Nobles)
2nd Casey Severo (Nobles)
3rd Conor Lovett (Lawrence)
NZ’s take: Nobles has a very good top line of Severo- Cronin- Stevens that are one of the best in the ISL and prep hockey. John Murray (Dorchester, MA) on the back end has good puck moving ability. ‘03 FR D Aidan Lyons showed lots of promise last night.
Lawrence is one of the most talented teams in prep hockey from the net out. Conor Lovett has been very good of late for LA and starting to have a major impact for the Spartans.
Photo Credit: Dan Hickling/Hickling Images