3/7/04
DiMarzo OT Goal Gives Avon Div. I Title
Salem, NH -- Junior Augie DiMarzo scored off a Tabor turnover 1:43 into OT to give Avon Old Farms a 3-2 win and the New England Div. I prep title here today. After gathering up a loose puck near the blue line, DiMarzo sped straight down the slot, and snapped a high forehander past Tabor junior goaltender Stephen Ritter.
The start of overtime was delayed several minutes because of water on the ice, and perhaps it should have been delayed a little longer because, on the winning goal, the puck appeared to stick on a wet area just below the blue line -- a puddle, really -- causing the Tabor defenseman, whose momentum was carrying him up ice, to overskate it. Suddenly, it was sitting there and DiMarzo, a quick, waterbug type of forward, was on it in a flash -- and off to the races.
It was a tough way to lose, but certainly did nothing to take away from Tabor’s great late-season run which netted them the #4 seed in the east. On Wednesday, they went up to Cushing and won, 8-7, yesterday they took on Taft and won, 5-3, and today they took a deep Avon team to overtime.
After a scoreless first period, Tabor got on the board first, as big defenseman John Burns carried the puck down the right wing boards into the Avon zone, curled behind the net and got the puck out front to Steve Silva who snapped it past Avon junior goaltender Jon Quick at the 4:09 mark.
Ritter made two big saves in the second, one on Avon’s Chris Davis and the other on Pat Forshner.
Right after the save on Forshner, Avon broke through against Ritter as Tobias Salmelainen fired it from the left wing faceoff circle, the puck appearing to deflect off the skate of Ritter and into the net to make it 1-1. Rob Tesar picked up an assist on the play.
Late in the period, Avon’s Sean Backman and John Mori, who played all weekend with a torn tricep and is undergoing surgery on Tuesday, were buzzing hard in the Tabor end.
Avon goaltender Quick made a big save on Tabor’s Matt Cook shortly before the buzzer.
The teams went to the second intermission tied at 2-2.
If there’s anybody who didn’t know about tiny but fast and super-skilled Tabor junior forward Peter Lenes before this week, they surely do now. A constant threat throughout the game, Lenes finally struck at the 4:03 mark of the third when, with the teams skating 4-on-4, he took it around the net and went back door on Quick, beating him stick side and giving Tabor a 2-1 lead.
At the 11:26 mark, Avon tied it up when senior Pat Percella chased a puck which was bouncing like a baseball right down the slot toward Ritter. It was hard to tell if Percella even touched it with his stick. Nonetheless, it was a tie game with 6:34 left in regulation.
Percella had a good chance to put Avon up with a little over two minutes left, but Ritter stopped him. Ritter followed that with an excellent save on Avon’s Mike Arciero, and yet another big one on a Chris Davis shot.
Quick came up big for Avon when, with about five seconds left in regulation, he stopped Cook on a point-blank shot.
The game went into overtime, where DiMarzo cashed in on his opportunity and gave Avon head coach John Gardner a record fourth prep title (1989, 1993, 2000, and 2004). No other school has more than two.
Afterward, Gardner, who also picked up his 500th career win this season, said, “There was a lot of ebb and flow to the game. Each time they scored we came back and answered their goals. In the third period I was getting worried because Tabor was doing a great job of bottling things up. But in overtime the right guy got the puck – he’s pretty shifty – and he got in close and went high glove side. I thought he might put a deke on Ritter because of the way Ritter had been robbing us up high.”
Asked about the season, Gardner said, “We took our lumps last year. This year, we got better as the season went along, but when you get down to the final eight, everyone is good. Pomfret took us to two overtimes.on Wednesday.”
“The three captains – Cucci, Salmelainen, and Arciero -- gave us greatsenior leadership, each in their own way. Plus we have a lot of kids that go hard.”
Tabor coach Gerry Dineen said, “Both teams played well and had great goaltending. It came down to one little break, which they capitalized on. Give them credit. We had plenty of chances to win it.”
“I’m really proud of our team, though. We had a great second half. Avon is a great team, but we proved over the last month and a half that we are, too. Our seniors have just been outstanding. And Ritter was great today. It was a great run.”
3/7/04
South Kent Wins Div. II Title
Salem, NH -- South Kent, behind goals from Pat Iannucci, Mike Pompa, and Pat Melillo and a pair of assists from Tony Morrone, won the Div. II title here this afternoon.
For South Kent it was payback, as they were beaten by St. George’s, 5-2, in the semis last season. In that game, Shea Guthrie had three goals and an assist for St. George’s.
Today Guthrie, who was closely watched by South Kent defenseman Stanislav Vylet, and centers Ross Grubin, Melillo, and Pompa, was kept off the board. South Kent did the same thing yesterday with Josh Robertson. Keeping those two players to a combined zero points was the major factor in South Kent’s title-winning weekend, their first ever – and last, too, as the school will be moving up to Div. I in the fall.
South Kent broke out to an early lead, as Morrone, a sophomore, curled behind the St. George’s net and got it out front to Pat Ianucci, who fired it by St. George’s junior goalie Matt Dickson at the 2:04 mark.
In the second period, on the powerplay, a Mike Pompa blast from the point put South Kent up 2-0 at the 10:12 mark. On the play, Morrone picked up his second assist of the day.
Less than a minute later, at 11:04, St. George’s junior forward Shawn Cox jumped on a loose puck in the slot and fired it past South Kent goalie Jeff Hill. The goal, which was unassisted, gave St. George’s a spark, as the Dragons were buzzing for the rest of the period.
In the third, South Kent stretched it to a 3-1 lead when Melillo took a nice pass from talented Russian-born winger Andrei Uryadov and beat Dickson with a soft shot to his stick side.
With 1:15 remaining in regulation, St. George’s made things interesting when David VandenBerg dug the puck out of the corner and fed Mike Soros in front to make it a one-goal game.
South Kent then made it even more interesting by taking a holding penalty with 55 seconds on the clock. St. George’s pulled their goalie, giving them two extra skaters, but not until there was about 17 seconds left on the clock.
St. George’s outshot South Kent in the first period, 13-8; and the second period, 12-8, but South Kent had the edge in the third, outshooting St. George’s, 9-6. For the game St. George’s outshot the winners, 31-25.
After the game, South Kent coach Geoff Marottolo tipped his hat to his senior goaltender, Jeff Hill, “I can’t say enough about him,” Marottolo said. “His save on Guthrie in the second period was huge, and he had another big save in the third. In the fall, I told him, ‘We'll go as far as you go.' He was ready for the challenge all year.”
St. George’s coach Rich Dempsey said, “We didn’t have our jump or play our best but despite that we were still there at the end. South Kent,” he added, “is a good team. They work hard, they’re gritty, they transition well and they have good offensive talent.”
“We had a great weekend. We played as a team all week long. We just came up a goal short.”
3/7/04
Snow, Jackmuff Each Notch a Pair in Seniors Game
Salem, NH -- In the Senior's Game held this morning, the West topped the East, 6-4. Brandon Jackmuff (2g), Anthony Randazzo (1g,1a), Torrey Mitchell (2a), and Greg Genovese (2a) led West scorers. Greg Holt, Garrett Daigler, and Carter Lee each added goals. For the East, Nick Snow (2g), Mike Greeley (1g,1a), and Brian McGuirk (1g) led the way.
3/7/04
Nobles Wins Second Div. I Title in Three Years
Brookline, Mass. -- For the second time in three years, Nobles won the Div. I title here this afternoon, topping Cushing 4-2. A Sarah Parsons goal with 4:17 remaining in the first period broke a 1-1 tie. Goals by Helen Resor and Leanna Coskren stretched it to 4-1 before Cushing's Erika Lawler scored with 28 seconds remaining.
Earlier, Julie Flynn scored to put Nobles up 1-0. Lindsay Wilde answered for Cushing, tying the game at one.
Parsons (1g,2a) would figure in three of Nobles' four goals. Helen Resor and Julie Flynn each had two point afternoons.
3/7/04
Osgood Goal Lifts Brooks to Div. II Title
In Div. II, Brooks topped Greenwich Academy, 3-2, fighting pack from a 2-1 deficit midway through the second period.
Brooks led 1-0 after a first period goal by Celia Medeiros, but Greenwich's Steph Holmes scored a pair of goals three minutes apart in the second period to put Greenwich up 2-1 going into the second intermission.
Brooks came up with all the scoring in the thrid, as Annie Michalek tied the game at 22-2 with 2:25 on the clock, then Liz Osgood got the game-winner with 1:18 left.
Katie Nickerson had a pair of assists for Brooks.
3/6/04
Saturday’s Semifinals
Brookline, Mass. -- In Div. II, Greenwich Academy got goals from three different scorers in a 3-0 blanking of Brewster…. Cherie Hendrickson notched all three Brooks goals in a 3-2 win over the Gunnery. Amand Comeau scored both Gunnery goals…. In Div. I play, Nobles topped Berkshire, 4-3. For Nobles, Pam McDevitt scored two goals, Helen Resor had a goal and an assist, Sarah Parsons had two assists, and Helen Resor had a goal and an assist. For Berkshire, Becky Zavisza had a goal and an assist, Katie Morrison had two assists, and Kacey Bellamy and Nicki Wiart each had a goal…. Cushing got goals from Meghan Duggan and Hayley Moore in a 2-0 win over Pomfret.
Sunday’s Schedule – games at the Dexter and Southfield Schools
10:30 am -- DII Championship Game: Brooks vs. Greenwich
12:30 pm – DI Championship Game:Nobles vs. Cushing
Directions to Dexter and Soutfield Schools: www.dexter.org/map.html
3/3/04
Wednesday's Quarterfinals
Div. I
#1 Nobles 6, #8 Taft 0
#2 Pomfret 5, #7 Hotchkiss 0
#3 Cushing 2, #6 Tabor 1
#4 Berkshire 4, #5 Choate 1
Div. II
#1 Brewster 3, #8 Hebron 0
#2 Brooks 4, #7 Kingswood-Oxford 0
#6 Gunnery 5, #3 Holderness 4 (3 OT)
#5 Greenwich Academy 7, #4 Gov. Dummer 5
On Sat. March 6, Wednesday’s winners will convene for the semis at the Dexter and Southfield School rinks (they’re about 20 feet apart) in Brookline, Mass. The finals will be Sun. March 7 at the same site. Here are the schedules for those days.
Sat. March 6 (at the Dexter and Southfield Schools)
10:00 am – DII semi: Brewster vs.Greenwich Academy
12:00 pm -- DII semi: Gunnery vs. Brooks
2:00 pm -- DI semi: Nobles vs. Berkshire
4:00 pm – DI semi: Cushing vs. Pomfret
Sun. March 7 (at the Dexter and Southfield Schools)
10:30 am -- DII Championship Game
12:30 pm – DI Championship Game
Directions to Dexter and Soutfield Schools: www.dexter.org/map.html
3/1/04
Prep Playoff Matchups
Here are the seeds for the New England Girls Prep Tournament, which gets underway with quarterfinals on Wednesday.
Div. I
1. Nobles
2. Pomfret
3. Cushing
4. Berkshire
5. Choate
6. Tabor
7. Hotchkiss
8. Taft
Div. II
1. Brewster
2. Brooks
3. Holderness
4. Governor Dummer
5. Greenwich
6. Gunnery
7. Kingswood-Oxford
8. Hebron
Schedule for Wed. March 3 Quarterfinals:
Div. I
#1 Nobles vs. #8 Taft, 2:30 pm @ Pomfret
#2 Pomfret vs. #7 Hotchkiss, 2:30 pm @ Loomis
#3 Cushing vs. #6 Tabor, 3:00 pm @ Cushing
#4 Berkshire vs. #5 Choate, 4:00 pm @ Berkshire
Div. II
#1 Brewster vs. #8 Hebron, 3:30 pm @ Brewster
#2 Brooks vs. #7 Kingswood, 4:00 pm @ Brooks
#3 Holderness vs. #6 Gunnery, 3:30 pm @ Groton
#4 Gov. Dummer vs. #5 Greenwich, 4:30 pm @ Loomis
On Sat. March 6, Wednesday’s winners will convene for the semis at the Dexter and Southfield School rinks (they’re about 20 feet apart) in Brookline, Mass. The finals will be Sun. March 7 at the same site. Here are the schedules for those days.
Sat. March 6 (at the Dexter and Southfield Schools)
10:00 am – DII semi: Brewster/Hebron winner vs. GDA/Greenwich winner
12:00 pm -- DII semi: Holderness/Gunnery winner vs. Brooks/Kingswood winner
2:00 pm -- DI semi: Nobles/Taft winner vs. Berkshire/Choate winner
4:00 pm – DI semi: Cushing/Tabor winner vs. Pomfret/Hotchkiss winner
Sun. March 7 (at the Dexter and Southfield Schools)
10:30 am -- DII Championship Game
12:30 pm – DI Championship Game
