In an important game for playoff seedings, Loomis Chaffee defender their home ice with an impressive 4-1 victory over Connecticut rival Westminster. Both teams have played well down the stretch and positioned themselves for playoffs but the Westminster had the stronger resume until tonight.
The teams skated to a 0-0 tie in the first period and while they both exchanged scoring chances, it was Westminster who had the better period. However, early in the second period Loomis got on the board off Jacob Hookman-Vassa who scored a loose puck in the slot. The Pelicans didn’t take long to score again when Oliver Flynn caught Westminster on a change and took the puck in alone and blasted a snap shot over the goalies shoulder to take the 2-0 lead.
Both teams battled hard for that next goal and the game got faster and more physical but it was the home team again that found the lamp when Cameron Miranda took the puck deep into the offensive zone, curled out of the corner and cut to the faceoff dot and shot a clever wrister through traffic and past the netminder to extend the lead to 3.
Credit to Westminster who was playing stride for stride with Loomis but just couldn’t finish their rushes and power plays, they showed no quit and kept the pressure on. They were rewarded at the 6:06 mark when Adam Mendelson got a pass from the wall and burried it 5-hole in the slot. Westy got a boost of momentum and took over the rest of the period but Loomis netminder and player of the game Andrew Heinze, stood tall and kept the score at 3-1 heading into the third period.
The third period started out with Westminster on the attack but Loomis kept them to the outside and lower percentage scoring chances. Loomis used their speed and drew a few penalties and also got some pucks in deep but the majority of the puck possession that period was for Westy. The action was fast paced and several scoring chances off the rush but it was around the 4 minute mark when Westminster got a power play and an offensive zone faceoff which was their best opportunity to cut the lead to 1. However the Pelicans had another idea and less than halfway through the penalty kill they scored on a terrfic pass from Ben Carfora to a wide open Rory Andriole in the slot who burried it over the shoulder of Westy netminder to seal the game at 4-1.
With Pomfret losing in earlier game and beating Westminster Loomis climbed up the RPI rankings and have a real chance of being a Top 16 team in RPI by the end of the night.
Three Stars of the Game:
1st Star: Andrew Heinze, G, Loomis Chaffee
2nd Star: Oliver Flynn, F, Loomis Chaffee
3rd Star: Charlie Andriole, D, Loomis Chaffee
Photo Credit: Dan Hickling / Hickling Images