1/19/05
Cushing and Thayer Battle to a 4-4 Tie
Wellesley, Mass. --In a rugged, hard-fought game at Babson College this afternoon, #4 Thayer and #7 Cushing went at it for 59 minutes and emerged with a 4-4 tie.
All four of Thayer’s goals were scored by the Greg Collins (3g)-Brian Gibbons (4a)-Pierce Norton (1g,2a) line, while Cushing spread their four goals between three lines.
After a first period in which the two teams were mostly feeling each other out, things heated up right off the bat in the second, when five goals were scored in a little over ten minutes.
Cushing scored just 30 seconds in when PG Steve McClellan, from the right faceoff, circle made a perfect pass to Tom Bardis, who was streaking down the slot. Bardis fired it by Thayer goaltender Mat Frechette to give the Penguins a 1-0 lead.
Cushing quickly added another, going up 2-0 when a Damen Nisula shot appeared to deflect off the skate of a Thayer defenseman and past Frechette at the 2:08 mark.
Cushing’s lead was cut to 2-1 when Thayer capitalized on a Keith Yandle turnover in the Cushing end. Gibbons, quick and elusive as always, got the puck to Collins who buried it at the 3:02 mark.
Thayer then scored two fairly similar goals to tie up the game and then take the lead. Both of the goals came on the power play and both came after Cushing’s Aaron Bogosian failed to cash in on scoring opportunities at one end and the play turned back up ice.
In the first case, Norton, with one second left on a Sam D’Agostino penalty for slashing, took a pass from Gibbons and beat Cushing goalie Richard Bachman with a hard, low shot at the 8:53 mark.
Less than two minutes later, at 10:43, Norton hit Collins with a pass and Collins, in front, cashed in at the 10:43 mark to turn a 2-0 Cushing lead into a 3-2 Thayer lead – and that’s how the period ended.
In the third, with Cushing on a power play, sophomore Brad Malone, who played a strong game, made a nice pass out from behind the goal line, onto the stick of D’Agostino, who converted at the 5:06 mark to make it a 3-3 game.
Neither team was playing for the tie, though.
At the 9:15 mark, Thayer went ahead when Collins scored a nifty goal off a faceoff, just pushing the puck ahead, stepping up and firing it off the far post and in.
As the clock counted down, and there was under five minutes left,Cushing was applying pressure, searching for the equalizer. They got it when Malone banged home the puck from a scrum in front.
In overtime, Norton had several shots in one shift, but couldn’t get the game winner for Thayer. With 30 seconds remaining Yandle went end-to-end for Cushing and got off a shot which Frechette was able to handle.
The game ended in a 4-4 tie, marking the third straight Wednesday that Cushing has played a tie game.
Afterward, Thayer head coach Larry Rooney said, “We responded well to a down game on Saturday (a loss to Lawrence Academy) and that’s what we were looking for. Even though we tied it was a moral victory. We have to continue to climb and move forward. It was a great game. A lot of up-and-down action. The game could have gone either way.”
Cushing head coach Steve Jacobs said, “We kept letting them back in. We had them 2-0, and then we took some bad penalties. In the third period we played great, but then we gave up that faceoff goal. I’m happy with the way we battled, but I’m disappointed in some of the penalties we took.”
Notes: Thayer played the game without defenseman Anthony Aiello, who received a DQ for a penalty taken in Thayer’s Saturday loss… Cushing outshot Thayer 28-22, with the first two periods pretty even, and the third going to Cushing.
