1/10/04
#2 Avon Edges Taft, Remains Undefeated
Avon, Conn. -- Junior goaltender Jon Quick of Hamden, Conn. kicked out 32 of 34 shots to lead #2-ranked Avon Old Farms to a 3-2 home win over #9-ranked Taft in a good up-and-down physical game here this afternoon.
It was the second time this season that Avon has beaten Taft, as the two teams met on Dec. 10 – exactly a month ago – in Watertown, Conn. and Avon came out on top by an identical 3-2 score.
In both games, Taft outshot Avon, but Quick was the difference.
Avon’s win sets up a Wednesday mid-season showdown of the undefeateds, as #1-ranked Hotchkiss (8-0-1), a 6-1 winner over Millbrook today, visits Avon (10-0-0) for a 2:30 game.
Today, Avon broke to an early 1-0 lead when junior forward Sean Backman picked up a loose puck at center ice, went out around a Taft defenseman, cut in with speed and tucked the puck past Taft sophomore goaltender Alex Kremer at the 9:55 mark.
Taft got it back with 3:37 left in the period when senior RW Keith Shattenkirk, a Princeton recruit, got the puck in the slot and, from about ten feet out, beat Quick on a great shot.
Avon picked up both goals in the second period, the first when defenseman Jayson Cash, with Avon on a powerplay, got the puck at the point and put an ice-level shot on net. Senior center Mike Arciero buried the rebound at the 7:39 mark.
Late in the period, with Taft on the powerplay and applying good pressure, Backman found junior forward Joe Sides of Sun Valley, Idaho on the right side and Sides just took off down the wing, cutting in and burying it with 4:00 left in the period for a short-handed goal that would turn out to be the game-winner.
In the third, Taft made it a one-goal game when senior wing Todd Johnson, a Brown recruit, stepped out from about five feet to the side of the net, held it nicely while walking across the slot and then, when Quick committed, snapped it past him at the 4:02 mark.
However, Taft, which outshot Avon 34-20 in the game and had the distinct edge in play in the third period, wasn’t able to get any closer. With the game on the line in the final two minutes, Avon’s forecheckers did an excellent job bottling up Taft in their own end.
Afterward, Avon coach John Gardner said, “Our goals came off quick strikes and I thought that, overall, we played tough. That’s a good team. I feel fortunate. In the third period they really came at us. But Quick played well. He was the key for us. Joe Cucci was awesome. Cash did a nice job, too.”
Taft coach Mike Maher said, “I don’t like losing, but we didn’t get outplayed. They have a great club. I was proud of our guys.”
Both teams were missing star forwards as Taft center Alex Meintel, a Harvard recruit, dislocated his shoulder in the title game of the Lawrenceville Tournament Dec. 21; and on Wednesday Avon center John Mori, a Providence recruit, had his elbow broken in a game against Pomfret. Mori hopes he’ll be able to make it back by the end of the season.
