First day of the St Sebastians Holiday Tournament kicks off with the #4 ranked Arrows taking on the hard working and determined Albany Academy Cadets.
The first couple minutes were missed in this as with 20 minutes left in the first half, the Arrows strung out to a 2-0 lead and then would soon add another tally to add to their lead making it 3-0 with 17 minutes left in the first half. From this point on, the Arrows started to take their foot off the gas as the Cadets applied serious pressure on the forecheck and in the D zone. After a shaky start, junior goaltender Andrew Palena was up to the task in slowing down the Arrows skilled and electric offense. With about 10 minutes left in the first half, the Cadets banged in their first goal off a great forecheck by PG forward, Justin Guelph. Guelph hounded the Sebs defenseman, stripped him and dished a nice pass to PG defenseman Ryan Eccles, who fired a nice hard, low shot past Luke Garrity.
The Cadets carried this momentum into the second half as their forwards constantly hounded pucks and forced turnovers. Albany isn’t the most skilled team but they play simple, hard and everyone buys in to their system which allowed them to stay in it. Sebs was active on the offense with Timmy Delay and Liam Connors dominating play when they were on the ice. About 7 minutes in, PG forward Chase Maxwell found a loose puck off a draw, drove the net and buried a greasy rebound goal to pull the Cadets within 1. Garrity was able to make the first save most of the time but struggled with rebounds in this game and sealing up holes down low. Junior Dman, Thomas Messineo and Senior Dman, Ryan MacDermott both showed great poise, composure and toughness in their own zone when Albany was pressing hard late in the second half. Messineo was a breakout machine and MacDermott got a stick on just about everything as his gaps and mobility were excellent all game. The Cadets had their chances but weren’t able to convert as Timmy Delay scored the empty netter to seal a victory for the Arrows. St Sebastians was clearly the more skilled and talented squad with several D1 commits but the Cadets wanted it more, just too little to late. Final 4-2 St Sebastians.
Three Stars:
1.) Thomas Messineo (St Sebastians)
2.) Ryan Eccles (Albany Academy)
3.) Tim Delay (St Sebastians)
Brunswick vs. Winchendon – The second game of the day at the Sebs Holiday Tourney was a battle contested between #15 Brunswick School and #43 Winchendon School. A very hard nosed, fast and spirited matchup that contained several intriguing prospects on both teams who caught the attention of some colleges this afternoon.
Both teams came out hard, throwing several big body checks in the first couple minutes but it was Brunswick School who took the lead first off a pretty backhand finish under the bar by Senior forward Jakub Teply. Great work on forecheck by Freshman, James Shannon and a sharp pass from Sophomore forward, Connor Welsh. 5 minutes later, Teply was back at it again as he finished off a one timer that was dished by Welsh again, cheeky pass. First half ended with Brunswick up 2-0.
The second half begun with Brunswick continuing their offensive surge as Quinnipiac commit, Matthew McGroarty redirected a point shot from Senior defenseman Jude Brower. With 15 minutes left, Teply completed the hat trick as he floated a seeing eyed shot in from the tops of the circles that just snuck through Sophomore goaltender, Matthew Pierce. Brunswick controlled play for most of the game but Winchendon did have their chances here and there but just couldn’t convert until there was 4 minutes left. Senior defenseman, Niklas Aropelto received a pass at the point from Danny Cavanagh, changed the angle and fired home a nice wrister low glove to get Winch on the board. Freshman goaltender, Brendan Holahan didn’t receive a huge workload but was simple, sharp and efficient in his movements and steered rebounds clear. Brunswick took this one with a final score of 4-1.
Three Stars:
1.) Jakub Teply (Brunswick)
2.) Jake Black (Winchendon)
3.) Jude Brower (Brunswick)
Saint Andrews Toronto vs. Rivers School – The third game of the night was between the star studded Saint Andrews College from Toronto and the Rivers School. A highly skilled, energetic and passionate matchup between two teams with not only D1 commits and prospects but several NHL prospects to watch develop over the next year or two as well.
The first half of this game consisted of back and forth play between the two with a solid performance from Lassi Lehti and Conor Sullivan respectively. At the 17 minute mark, Miami Ohio commit, Frankie Carogioiello beat out an icing call, protected along the wall, cut the middle and rifled a shot high blocker to break the scoring open. Only 4 minutes later, Senior forward and Merrimack commit, Devlin O’Brien won a foot race, got body positioning and went forehand to backhand and slipped it 5 hole past Sullivan for the 2-0 lead. While Saint Andrew’s started to pick up the pace after the lead, with a little over a minute left, Senior forward, Matt Cormier fired a twisted wrister glove side on Lehti to get some momentum back. Half ended with SAC up 2-1.
The second half jumped off to a hot start with Junior forward, Will Conway one timing home a feed from Sophomore forest and linemate Ziv Deener-Chodirker. With 17 minutes left, SAC separated themselves as Merrimack commit, Mark Hiller made a beautiful spin-o-rama backhand pass to Senior forward Cole Galata. Greasy goal. Rivers left it all out there and pushed but with a minute left, Junior forward and Cornell commit, Justin Ertel sealed this one SAC. Highlight real play, Ertel worked the Dman’s triangle, cut the middle, waited out the goalie and seemed to look like he was going to wrap it but tucked it in short side with a tasty one handed finish. Intense, physical and highly talented game with some highly touted prospects to watch progress. SAC wins this one 4-2.
Three Stars:
1.) Mark Hillier (SAC)
2.) Matthew Cormier (Rivers)
3.) Cole Galata (SAC)
Northwood vs. Williston – The last game of the evening on the first day of the Sebs Holiday Tournament concludes with the Northwood School taking on Williston. Northwood might of have the edge in the talent department but Williston’s hard work was relentless all game to make this an entertaining battle.
The first half consisted of Northwood pushing the pace with there speed which resulted in them controlling most of the play early on but Senior goaltender, Trevor Corsello was dialed in and up to the task. The scoring opened up with about 5 minutes left from Northwood on a garbage goal that was cleaned up by Junior forward, Felix Trudeau, right place right time. Play was tightly contested the rest of the half but the score stayed at 1-0 Northwood at the end of the half.
In the second half about 5 minutes in, Junior forward, Will Donato sparked the scoring for Northwood again as he made a nice curl and drag release through the opposing Dmans legs and right past Corsello, low blocker. Northwood was excellent with the puck but started to get frustrated with the “never say die” attitude and work ethic from Williston as they continued to finish checks, hound pucks and irritate Northwood. Williston got on the board at the 10 minute mark on the PP as Senior forward and captain, Tommy Harty redirected a shot from Junior Dman, Tyler Varin off a nice feed initially from Will Tripp. After another bad penalty by Northwood only 4 minutes later, Williston went back on the PP. Only 20 seconds into the man advantage, it was Tommy Harty again who fired a rocket glove side off a loose puck to tie the game up. Northwood was getting the better of the chances but Corsello made several key stops at the end of the half and OT to keep their hopes alive, his rebound control and stick work was excellent all game. From Northwood, Jacob Guevin and Nate Boak were as solid as can be from the back end as the pair controlled the pace of the game and generated a lot of their grade A chances as well. Guerin’s sense and poise with the puck was outstanding to watch, slows it down and plays the game at his speed.
The game went scoreless in OT, so this forced a shootout. First up was Northwood’s Felix Trudeau who was stoned cold by the glove of Corsello. Next up was Tommy Harty who went forehand to backhand and up under the bar for another goal this evening. Corsello stopped the next shooter and the game was ended by a quick release from speedy Junior forward, David Novotny. Williston took this one by a final of 3-2 in a shootout.
Three Stars:
1.) Tommy Harty (Williston)
2.) Felix Trudeau (Northwood)
3.) Trevor Corsello (Williston)
Schedule for Saturday 12/21:
Game 5 11:00 – Albany vs. Winchendon
Game 6 1:00 – Rivers vs. Northwood
Game 7 3:00 – St. Sebastian’s School vs. Brunswick
Game 8 5:00 – St. Andrew’s vs. Williston