Berkshire traveled to Washington, CT to play one of their all-time rivals in Gunnery School. The game was a must-win for Berkshire to keep their Elite 8 dreams alive as they entered the game with the #8 seed and have Cushing, Loomis and Brunswick breathing down their necks.
Berkshire jumped on the board first and carried the lead through the first period but it was an even game back and forth. The Berkshire Bears came out hard in the second period scoring two goals in the first 5 minutes. The first was a top corner snipe by Cole Paredes off a long rebound going hard to the net. They scored again a minute later when Hayden Riva riffled a one-timer in the high slot that snuck under the bar; beautiful goal. The pass came from Jake MacDonald in the corner who drew the defender and made a skilled pass right on the tape.
Berkshire looked like they were sarted to pull away but Gunnery was able to stay in the game and found the back of the net with 2:06 remaining in the period to cut the lead to 2 off a net front goal by junior forward Michael Casey. The momentum shifted but Gunnery took a penalty less than 20 seconds later which plagued them all game taking undisciplined and untimely penalties.
The Gunnery Highlanders came out in the third a different team and really took the play to Berkshire both physically and in possession time. With 5:37 remaining Berkshire took a penalty in their end and Gunnery was able to capitalize a minute later when Eric Charpentier floated a saucer pass from the point to the net front and Dane Dowiak made a quick move and lifted the puck over the goalies pad to make it a one-goal game. Yet again Gunnery took an untimely penalty 30 seconds later and Berkshire would go on the power play only to seal the game off a nice goal by Jack Marottolo. The Bears would officially close them out off a long range empty net goal by Hayden Riva.
Notes
Gunnery has a lot of talent but they were undisciplined; they’ll need to clean that up to have a chance in the Small School Playoffs. Thier best player tonight was Mark D’Agostino who played with edge and skill. Eric Charpentier is an intruiging prospect given his size and puck movement and David Andreychuk continues to show improvement this season.
Berkshire is led by two gifted playmakers in Aidan Thompson who can flat out fly and Briggs Gammill but we really liked shut down defenseman Jack Whitney and phyiscal, athletic defender Abdoul Diouf. Berkshire doesn’t have the high end skill of some of the Elite 8 teams but they are very balanced, they play a strong, mature, team game and are hard to play against.
Photo Credit: Dan Hickling/Hickling Images