2/2/05
Gibbons Line Too Much for Nobles
Dedham, Mass. -- A lot of teams have to be sick of Thayer’s top line of Greg Collins, Brian Gibbons, and Pierce Norton, but none more so than Nobles.
In the teams’ two meeting this season, 10 of Thayer’s 11 goals have been scored by the aforementioned trio. On Jan. 8, at Thayer, the line figured in all six goals of the Tigers’ come-from-behind 6-3 win. Today, the line figured in four of five goals in Thayer’s 5-1 win over Nobles.Gibbons had three points (2g,1a); Norton had two points (2g); and Collins had an assist.
Despite the final score, this was actually a very good game between two good teams. The first two periods were particularly entertaining, featuring a good tempo, some nice plays, and ton of good hits – from both sides.
On Thayer’s first goal, at 7:59 of the first, Collins tried a wraparound on the stick side of Nobles sophomore goaltender John Muse, but the puck popped out front to Norton, who popped it home for the 1-0 lead.
Thayer made it 2-0 when senior defenseman Anthony Aiello converted another wraparound attempt at 13:06. Sophomore Mike Griffin picked up an assist.
In the second period, Nobles got on the board when junior defenseman Chris Huxley banged home a rebound at 3:09. Ryan Maguire and Matt Nelson picked up assists.
Gibbon’s restored the two-goal lead with a powerplay goal at 11:29, assists going to junior forward Ryan Driscoll and Norton.
The second period ended with Thayer holding a 3-1 lead. The game, though, was closer than it appeared: over the first two periods, Nobles outshot the visitors 18-14, though territorially Thayer had a slight edge.
In the third period, Nobles would again outshoot Thayer, this time by a 10-8 margin, but this time Thayer, which had ground down Nobles, had a huge edge territorially, even when killing off a penalty. As a matter of fact Thayer, which scored five unanswered goals in the third period when the two teams last met, would score two unanswered goals in the third period tonight. It appeared that Thayer came out after the second intermission with the sense that they owned Nobles in the third period, then set out to prove it.
Despite pouring it on for the first half of the final stanza, Thayer had nothing to show for it.Andrew Glass, Nobles’ talented freshman wing, hit a post about halfway through the period, then the play came down the other way and Muse robbed sophomore forward Paul Carey with a great glove save.
Quickly afterward, at the 9:10 mark, Norton scored to make it 4-1, with an assist going to Gibbons.
Just 13 seconds after Nobles’ pulled their goalie with 2:25 left, Gibbons potted an empty-netter from deep in his own end. Goalie Mat Frechette picked up an assist.
Afterward, Thayer head coach Larry Rooney said that, after Friday’s 3-2 loss to St. Sebastian’s, he was happy to take the win, though he and his staff thought the Thayer defense gave up too many odd-man rushes.
“And offensively,” he added, “we didn’t really pressure the D; we got some accidental offense, and some good bounces.”
“Don’t get me wrong. I don’t think we played poor, but I didn’t think it looked like a 5-1 win.”
“We can’t go into Saturday’s game against Governor Dummer and make the mistakes we made today and assume we will win.”
OK, but we’ll bet on them. Rooney’s squad is 17-3-1 on the season, which is no shabby neighborhood.
2/27/05
Playoff Matchups Announced
Div. I:
#8 Tabor vs #1 Nobles, 3:00 @ Nobles
#7 Cushing vs #2 Berkshire, 4:00 @ Berkshire
#6 Choate vs #3 Loomis, 4:00 @ Loomis
#5 Pomfret vs #4 Lawrence, 4:00 @ Lawrence
Div. II :
#8 Brewster vs #1 GDA
#7 Kingswood vs #2 Gunnery
#6 Middlesex vs #3 Kents Hill
#5 Greenwich vs #4 Brooks
We’ll add in the locations and times of the Div. II games as we learn of them.
Semi-Finals: Saturday, March 5, 2005
Dexter and Southfield Schools, Brookline, MA
Div. II:
1/8 winner vs. 4/5 winner, 10:00 am
3/6 winner vs. 2/7 winner, 12:00 pm
Div. I:
1/8 winner vs. 4/5 winner, 2:00 pm
3/6 winner vs. 2/7 winner, 4:00 pm
Finals: Sunday, March 6, 2005
Div. II Championship Game, 10:30 am
Div. I Championship Game, 12:30 pm
