2/12/05
St. Paul’s Tops Thayer in OT
Canton, Mass. – A Dewey Thomson goal 39 seconds into overtime gave St. Paul’s a 4-3 win over Thayer Academy here today.
On the winning goal, junior center Matt Eagles put a perfect pass on the stick of Thomson, who winged a wrister high into the net to set off the St. Paul’s celebration.
Earlier, with just 1:09 remaining in regulation, Thayer had tied up the game on a Pierce Norton goal, a changeup from the slot that fooled St. Paul’s goaltender Skylar Nipps.
Nipps was the difference in the game, kicking out at least 35 shots. The senior from Orlando, Florida came up particularly big in the first period, when he was able to keep his team, outshot in the first 18 minutes by a 15-1 margin, in the game.
The Gibbons line – no surprise here – was on the ice for all three Thayer goals, and the sophomore from Braintree, Mass. got things going in the first when he flipped home the rebound of an Anthony Aiello point shot to give Thayer a 2-1 lead just 2:41 into the game.
Late in the period, Thayer went on a 5-on-3 power play and peppered Nipps, but came up empty.
The Thayer power play carried over for the first 30 seconds of the second period. St. Paul’s killed it off, which seemed to give them a lift, and less than two minutes later, with St. Paul’s now on a power play of their own, junior RW Kevin Kaiser banged home the rebound of a Eagles shot to tie the game at 1-1.
Thayer regained the lead when Gibbons carried the puck behind the St. Paul’s net and got it out front to Norton, who one-timed it past Nipps. Greg Collins also got an assist on the goal, which came at 6:37 and gave Thayer a 2-1 lead.
Right afterward, Thayer again took a penalty – make that two – and found themselves down by two men. St. Paul’s capitalized when Eagles slid the puck over to LD Andy Bodnarchuk, who had drifted down to the top of the left face-off circle, and snapped one off to tie the game at 2-2 at the 8:10 mark.
No sooner had that 5-on-3 ended than Thayer once again was whistled for two penalties and again found themselves facing a 5-on-3.
St. Paul’s scored again with 4:50 left in the period when Greg Valenski backhanded a pass from the left wing toward the slot. The puck deflected off the skate of Thayer defenseman Scott Simpson and right by goaltender Mathieu Frechette. Jason DeGiovanni and Peter Child also picked up assists on the play.
Thayer had a powerplay late in the period but failed to cash in. The period ended with St. Paul’s holding a 3-2 lead.
The shots were even in the second.
In the third, Thayer played a more disciplined game than they had in the previous period, and had a distinct edge in play again. Early on, they were able to keep the puck in the St. visitors’ end for long stretches. Nipps was called on to make some nice saves – one on Gibbons and another on Ryan Joyce stand out – but Thayer also missed the net on a good number of shots.
St. Paul’s Bodnarchuk, a poised, smooth-skating junior from Nova Scotia, was called for an elbow with 6:51 left and Nipps again held the fort for St. Paul’s, making nice saves off a Collins point shot, then one on the droorstep by Gibbons. Ryan Driscoll also had a great shot to finish off some nice tic-tac-toe passing, but Nipps stopped him. Norton had a great chance in close, but broke his stick.
Thayer took a time out with 1:35 left in regulation. When play resumed, Nipps made a nice save on a shot by Joyce, but couldn’t stop Norton, who tied it up with 1:09 left, sending it into regulation, where St. Paul’s made fast work of things.
Afterward, St. Paul’s head coach Tim Pratt said, “Skylar Nipps was outstanding, as he has been all year. He gave us our chance today.”
“Also,” said Pratt, “our guys played hard. We may be banged up and missing guys (top scorer Ryan Blossom, among others – ed.), but I never have to worry about our effort.”
Asked about the first period, Pratt said, “We have a ton of respect for Thayer, but perhaps we had a little too much there. The period ended 1-0, but we could easily have been down 3-0 or 4-0 if it weren’t for Nipps.”
“Starting in the second period, we realized why we’re here, and why we’re in contention for the Keller Division title.”
Pratt said killing off the 5-on-3 late in the first was “huge.”
“They missed a couple of opportunities, and we got a couple of breaks,” he said. “The longer the game went, the more confidence we got.”
Thayer coach Larry Rooney pointed to the second-period penalties as his team’s downfall. “We were undisciplined,” he said, “and it came back at us. The penalties really hurt us.”
Note: The loss was Thayer’s fifth of the season, and just their second at home. All five Thayer losses have come to Keller Div. teams: GDA (twice), Lawrence, St. Sebastian’s, and, of course, today’s to St. Paul’s.
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
