#3 Berkshire vs. #15 Gunnery
The second day of the AOF Christmas Classic started at 9:00 AM at Jennings-Fairfield rink. Each team will play two games today and we will be at Avon all day.
The first half was dominated by Berkshire who came out buzzing. They moved pucks quickly and had the puck most of the period. Gunnery goalie Carmine Andranovich was excellent, stopping several quality chances including a breakaway by Aidan Thompson. Andranovich had some luck from his best friend as senior Gunnar Granito hit the bar from the slot. Jed Baliotti had less action but made a few tough stops to keep the score at zeros. Half ended 0-0.
Berkshire kept pushing pace. Andranovich just kept stopping pucks. Finally Gunnery broke through when Alex Jefferies rifled a wristlet home with 12:24 left. What was interesting was Jefferies was quiet as he clearly had some sort of skate issue. However, that was all Gunnery and Andranovich would need as the played smart hockey the rest of the way and took home the quality win. Baliotti like his whole team played well in the loss for Berkshire. Final 1-0 Gunnery.
In the postgame, Gunnery Head Coach Craig Badger added, “As a team we definitely didn’t bring our A game today. Berkshire works hard and plays fast and I thought they carried the play. However, our guys persevered. Andranovich was a stud and kept us in the game long enough for our guys to make a play. Once Jefferies buries that, we got better and I think we played our best hockey from there on out.”
Three Stars
1. Carmine Andranovich (Gunnery)
2. Alex Jeffries (Gunnery)
3. Aidan Thompson (Berkshire)
Avon Old Farms vs Tabor
In the 11:00am game at Avon the home team took control early. They controlled tune of possession and zone time but quite a bit and unlike the first game, it translated into goals. Four in the first half. Very early UConn commit Tabor Heaslip started his big game as he intercepted a pass and went in all alone, scoring with a slick deke. Then with 8:30 left Heaslip scored on another nice bury near the net with an assist to the speedy Liam Verdoni. AOF struck again, this time on the power play. Nick Young snuck in the back door and Heaslip put it on his tape for the gap in. Chase Ramsay assisted as well. With 1:29 left the onslaught continued as Brendan Williams established himself at the net front and tipped a Young shot home to sound the celebratory horn. 4-0 for the home team and that’s how the half ended.
Tabor stormed out of the room to start the second half, scoring two goals. First was by 2003 Shane LaChance as hell ripped one home from the top of the circles in the power play. Less than a minute later, big junior Seth Bernard scored a 2v1 chance with a nice pass from senior Michael Cosentino. The play was started on a nice stretch outlet by 2002 Nate Terski. Tabor seemed to have life but the Einged Beavers responded quickly. Junior Paul Davey took off on a line rush and threw a backhand on net that deflected in and it was now 5-2 AOF. With 11:08 left, senior D Reid Shafer scores his second goal in two games as he rifled a rocket one-tuner home on the power play. Assists went to Jason Marsella and JP Turner. With 8:52 left, Timur Alishalov took a beating in front but found a rebound for his troubles and put it home. Assist went to Heaslip. It was now 7-2 Avon. The onslaught was in and just 17 seconds later, PJ Neal buried a rebound of a Tyler Gordon shot. Second assist went to 2004 Nick Capasso. 8-2 Avon. Tabor would ass one more as UNH commit Morgan Winters slapped a shot home on the power play to send the scoring. Final score. Avon 8 Tabor 3
Three Stars:
First: Tabor Heaslip (Avon)
Second: Nick Young (Avon)
Third: Brendan Williams (Avon)
Gunnery vs Loomis
The second round of games at Avon began with Loomis and Gunnery. Gunnery was coming off a 1-0 win on a goal by Alex Jefferies who was not dressed tonight. Loomis lost a high scoring affair 7-6 to Trinity Pawling this morning at Trinity College.
The first half was evenly played. Gunnery’s Mark D’Agostino was flying as he scored both goals for Gunnery. One with 21:02 left shorthanded and the other with 3:48 left off a nice keep by 2003 Brian Morse. Loomis scored on the power play between Gunnery’s two goals as Cam Partridge ripped one home from the point. 2-1 Gunnery after one half.
The second period play continued to be even. Loomis’ Alex Krause scored from Cody Hoban and Anthony Cipollone with 10:14 left. Cipollone started the play with some nifty stick-handling. Cipollone would give Loomis the lead on a power play as his shit deflected off a Gunnery stick and in the net with 5:47 left. The teams played up and down the ice. With 1:16 left, on the power play and the goalie out, D’Agostino picked off a pass and went in to score to complete the hat trick.
They went to overtime tied at three and the teams went end to end culminating in a great stop of a Loomis breakaway by Gunnery goalie Dan Zajkowski with .3 seconds left.
Gunnery won the shootout to win the game and move on to the finals. The game result would have had no impact as Gunnery was in before the puck dropped.
Three Stars:
1. Mark D’Agostino (Gunnery)
2. Anthony Cipollone (Loomis)
3. Dan Zajkowski (Gunnery)
Trinity-Pawling vs Berkshire – The TP Pride and Berkshire faced off in the second game of the evening schedule. The Pride picked up a 7-6 win over Loomis this morning and Berkshire lost to Gunnery 1-0 in a game they played very well.
The first half, Berkshire struck first as sophomore Ben Boren tapped in a pretty back door pass from Max OBrien. Trinity then took a five minute penalty which they killed off and scored the shift after. Junior Kyle Stover found space and fired a wrister under the bar to even the score. Berkshire has a slight advantage in play and took the lead with 1:31 left as Oliver Cookson put home a Gunnar Granito shot you take the lead. That’s how the period ended. 2-1 Berkshire.
In the second half with 16:18 left Aidan Thompson took a beating in front as he slipped a rebound home of a Briggs Gammill shot. Berkshire now had the dreaded two goal lead. Then the Bears got themselves in penalty trouble with a five minute major. The Pride scored on the power play as Stephen Willey took a pass from fellow senior John Gelatt and quickly fired it home. It was now 3-2 Berkshire. Soon after Berkshire took another penalty and TP had a full two minute 5-3 advantage. They were able to kill it off and big junior goalie Sam Woessner slammed their door to hold the lead. Berkshire would add some insurance as Thompson went hard to the net on a 2v1 and potted a nice pass from Gammill to reestablish a two goal lead. TP wasn’t done however as Taylor Ewing flipped a backhand pass on the rush to Willey who whacked it home. TP was able to get their goalie out but Berkshire blocked shots and weathered the storm to take the win 4-3.
Three stars:
1. Aidan Thompson (Berkshire)
2. Briggs Gammill (Trinity-Pawling)
3. Max O’Brien (Trinity-Pawling)
Tabor vs Kent – Game three on the evening schedule at Fairfield-Jennings featured the Tabor Seawolves and the Lent Lions. Kent picked up a win this morning and was Already assured a spot in the finals. Tabor lost to Avon in their morning tilt.
Kent and out right away and established a fast pace. They controlled play both in puck possession and offensive zone time. Their start paid off as Aidan Cobb chipped a rebound home with 16:38. They added a power play goal later as senior Jason Kleinhans fired a one-time rocket home in a nice set-up by junior Nick Marciano. Kent took a late penalty but that mattered not as big Jonas Passante intercepted a pass and took off 2v1. Passante held, waited, attacked the middle, set up a screen and snapped home a pretty goal with 11.4 seconds left in the half. 3-0 Kent after one half.
The second half was all Lions. Dante Palumbo buried a Jonas Passante rebound early on. Then with 20:43 left Ryan Remick scores his first career Lion goal. Kent rode the lead to an easy win as the game was never in doubt. Junior Jason Siegel earned shutout facing minimal quality shots.
Kent will play Gunnery for the Christmas Classic title tomorrow.
Three Stars:
1. Jonas Passante (Kent)
2. Jason Kleinhans (Kent)
3. Nick Marciano (Kent)
St. Paul’s vs Avon Old Farms – In the nightcap, St. Paul’s and Avon took to the ice for a 9:00pm drop. Avon came out quickly. UNH commit JP Turner showed nice speed on the forecheck, stole the puck, went right to the goal and snapped it home. 1-0 Avon just 2:17 into the first half. St. Paul’s however started to slow the game down and Avon started to look sloppy. With 14:30 left, junior Joe Schubert creates a turnover at his blue line, took off and snapped a wicked shot, top corner to tie things up. St. Paul’s picked up a momentum and pulled ahead with 6:42 left as Jack Hepp went end to end and made a behind the back pass to wide open and unmovable Malcolm Bussey in the slot who snuck it home. The period ended 2-1 St. Paul’s with the lead.
Avon struck first to start t he second half. Sophomore Charlie Leddy waisted a shot through traffic after a long shift in the St. Paul’s end to tie the game 2-2. Goal came with 17:55 left in the half. The Winged Beavers struck again as senior Tabor Heaslip tipped a waist high shot down into the net. Assist went to Jason Marsella and AOF was back in front. St. Paul’s called a timeout and responded soon after as Schubert came out of the penalty box, stole a puck and scored another unassisted tally on another hard shot. Game was tied at 3-3. St. Paul’s got in a bit of penalty trouble and Avon took advantage. With 6:05 left Timur Alishalov twisted one home on the power play to give Avon the lead for good. Alishalov would add a clever goal late on the power play on a nice saucer pass from Jason Siedem. All of a sudden it was 5-3 Avon. Tabor Heaslip added an empty netter for the final score. 6-3 Avon over St. Paul’s.
Three Stars:
1. Timur Alishalov (Avon)
2. Tabor Heaslip (Avon)
3. Joe Schubert (St. Paul’s)