1/15/05
Dignard OT Strike Lifts Andover Over Exeter
Andover, Mass. -- A goal by Andover junior defenseman Tommy Dignard with 29 seconds left in overtime gave Andover a 5-4 come-from-behind win over archrival Exeter here this afternoon.
The winning goal came off a neutral zone turnover. With the clock winding down it looked as if Exeter, which had been clearly outplayed from the beginning of the third period, would be able to escape town with a tie. Exeter, however, was unable to dump the puck into the Andover end, which would have eaten precious seconds off the clock. Instead, Andover picked up the loose puck and took it into the Exeter end for one last crack. There, senior Kyle Kucharski picked up the puck behind the Andover net, drawing two defenders to him. With the front of the Exeter net unprotected, Dignard drifted down from the left point, whereupon Kucharski hit him with a heads-up pass. Dignard fired it, and his shot went off the post and in, setting off the Andover celebration.
Earlier in the game, Andover was looking up from a hole. After Exeter’s Chris Downer fired a high shot over Andover goalie Matt Ward with 7:33 left in the second period, Andover found themselves trailing 4-2.
But less than two minutes later, that lead had been wiped off the board as Andover struck twice in quick succession. First, Andover junior Chris Cahill snapped one off from the slot that broke off the right pad of Exeter goalie Chris Mannix and into the net to make it 4-3 at the 11:36 mark, and then 32 seconds later, on the powerplay, Andover’s Dignard fed Steve Rolecek who made a nice pass to Kevin Maresco, who fired it past Ward at the 12:08 mark. Suddenly, the game was tied 4-4, and that’s where things stood going into the second intermission.
Exeter began the third period killing a penalty. A few minutes after killing it off, Exeter took another penalty, for too many men on the ice. Four minutes after that they took their third straight penalty of the period, a slash called on Tommy Price. With their top players weary from constantly killing penalties, Exeter appeared on the ropes, but Andover, which would hold a huge territorial edge throughout the period, had a hard time getting many high-quality chances. Nonetheless, their strong forecheck forced Exeter to play a kind of rope-a-dope, taking hard hits from Andover forwards able to outskate them and had more size and skill.
But Andover just couldn’t score, in part because Exeter worked hard, battling for everything.The pattern continued in OT – until Dignard moved down from the point and put the game away. It was the first goal in a span of 28:03.
Earlier in the game, Exeter’s Price scored on the first shot of the game, then Andover followed with a pair, as Kucharski and Ryan Burke scored to give Andover a 2-1 lead. Exeter’s David Ramsay tied it up at 2-2 with 1:06 left in the period.
In the second period, Exeter’s Kevin Crane tied it up with an against-the grain, wide-angle shot that sailed over Ward’s left shoulder for a powerplay goal at the 6:57 mark. 10:27 into the period, right after Kucharski had a good scoring opportunity thwarted at one end, the play turned back up ice. In the neutral zone, Exeter’s Chris Downer picked up a loose puck and was off to the races, puttingshot high over Ward to take the 4-2 lead, the lead that just would not hold up.
Afterward, Exeter coach Dana Barbin said, “Any time you lose to your archrival it’s a heartbreaker, especially when you have a two-goal lead.”
Andover head coach Dean Boylan said, “The game was a really good one and it could have gone either way.” “But,” he added, “today things just went our way.”
