2/18/06 Updated
Exeter's Lee Shuts Door on Deerfield
Exeter, NH – Exeter kept alive its playoff hopes with a 3-0 win over Deerfield Academy here today.
Junior goaltender Jonathan Lee kicked out 25 shots for the shutout.
Senior Chris Downer led the way with a pair of goals, while his twin brother, Nick, had a pair of assists. Brett Hughes scored an empty net goal for the final margin of difference.
After a scoreless first period, Exeter got on the board with a power play goal at the 4:04 mark of the second when Chris Downer took a pass from Kevin McCarthy and, from the top of the left faceoff circle roofed a nifty shot past Deerfield sophomore goalie Michael Dizgun to put Exeter up 1-0.
That was all the scoring for the period, though late in the period Exeter was able to pin Deerfield in their end for a good long stretch. Chris Downer had at least two good chances to add to the lead, but Dizgun was up to the task. Exeter had a clear edge in play in the second.
It remained a tight 1-0 game until there was just 3:48 remaining in regulation when Michael Doherty, off the draw, kicked the puck onto Nick Downer’s stick. He, in turn, got it to his brother who snapped it short side to put Exeter up, 2-0.
Things got a little messy in the final minutes. With 2:36 left Exeter’s Brett Hughes was called for hitting after the whistle, while Deerfield’s Micheal Del Mauro got a major and a game misconduct for head butting. Deerfield pulled their goalie, but the Big Green’s Matt Lovejoy took a penalty for cross-checking with 59 seconds left.
After the penalty to Exeter’s Hughes expired, fans saw the unusual sight of Deerfield skating a man down – a 4-on-5 -- with their goalie pulled. That lasted exactly 21 seconds for, with 15 seconds on the clock, Hughes, out of the box, scored into the empty net to make it 3-0 – and Deerfield head coach Brendan Creagh returned Dizgun to the net for the final 15 seconds of play.
Afterward, Exeter head coach Dana Barbin said, “That was a very strong team effort. Everyone played exceptionally hard – and smart. And Jonathan Lee has become a very nice goalie for us.”
Exeter plays Pomfret at home on Wednesday, and then finishes the regular season at Andover next Saturday, a game that could have huge playoff implications.
Deerfield, of course, is out of the playoff picture, so had to reach deeper down for motivation. A young, quick team, they return all their key players next season, including Dizgun who, despite the loss, had a very strong game today, kicking out 25 of 27 shots.
Other Games:
-- At South Kent, Conn., Williston-Northampton upset South Kent, 2-1, behind goals from Trevor Moss and Casey Vece and a big game from junior goalie Kevin Moore, who stopped 35 shots, including 16 in the third period, when South Kent poured it on. Late in the second, Moore was assessed a major for slashing and sent to the box. Senior John Scannell came into the game, played five perfect minutes, making five saves, and then handed goaltending duties back to Moore for the remainder of the game.
-- At Groton, Mass., Seth McNary kicked out 22 shots and Joe Ehiorobo (1g,2a) and Brett Moore (2g) led the offense as #6 Lawrence Academy blanked St. Mark's, 4-0.
-- At Watertown, Conn., Andrew Margolin kicked out 30 of 32 as #3 Taft topped Choate, 4-2. Max Pacioretty (3a) and Doug Jones (1g,1a) led the Rhinos' scorers.
-- At New Hampton, NH, Kenny Torsey scored a late third period goal to lift New Hampton to a 3-2 win over Kingswood-Oxford.
-- At Canton, Mass., Tyler O'Brien stopped 28 of 29 shots to lead St. Paul's to a 4-1 road win over Thayer. Jason Bourgea (1g,1a), Yuri Bouharevich (1g,1a), John Cronin (2a), and Francois Brisebois (2a) each had two points for St. Paul's.
-- At Concord, Mass., Christian Ebert scored a power play goal with 1:26 remaining in regulation to lift Middlesex to a 5-4 win over Rivers.
-- At Salisbury, Conn., #1 Salisbury and #5 Avon Old Farms battled to a 3-3 tie. Please see full story below.
-- At Kent's Hill, Maine, Brunswick topped Kent's Hill, 4-1. Sophomore defenseman Patrick Bursee had two goals for Brunswick. Justin Letizia (1g,1a), Christian Oberbeck (1g,1a), and Louis Aronne (2a) also each had two points apiece for the Bears.
-- At Ashburnham, Mass., Richard Bachman had a 20-save shutout as #7 Cushing blanked Kimball Union, 3-0. Ben Severance kicked out 49 of 52 for KUA. Cushing had goals from three different scorers, one in each period.
-- At Marion, Mass., Chris Bower had a hat trick and Ryan Carroll had 24 saves to lead Tabor to a 3-1 win over Holderness.
-- At Gill, Mass., Kevin Czepiel (4a), Miles Winter (3g), and Oliver Drake (1g,2a) provided the offense as NMH topped Loomis-Chaffee, 6-3.
-- At Simsbury, Conn., Berkshire, on the road, got goals from five different scorers and upset #8 Westminster, 5-3. Ben Smith (1g,2a) figured in all three Westminster goals.
-- At Kent, Conn., Canterbury topped Kent, 5-4, with Ryan Kupperman and Jordan Samuels each notching a pair of goals. Jon Schanke (2g), Patrick Aldridge (1g,1a), Ragnars Alksnis (1g,1a), and Matt Czerkowicz (2a) led the Kent attack.
-- At Washington, Conn., Pat Street had 26 saves and Sean McKevitt (2g,1a) and Pat Capella (3a) each had three points to lead host Gunnery to a 5-2 win over Albany Academy. John Sullivan had two goals in a losing cause.
-- At Millbrook, NY, Sean Driscoll had a pair of goals and Evan Johnson kicked out 22 of 24 shots to lead Pomfret to a 3-2 road win over Millbrook.
-- At Lakeville, Conn., Hotchkiss got goals from five different scorers and Zach Harding kicked out 23 of 25 as the Bearcats topped Trinity-Pawling, 5-2.
2/28/06 Update
The schedule for tomorrow has been updated below, along with the times and brackets for this weekend.
2/27/06
Calling All Blackberries, Treos, Razors – and Plain Old Cell Phones
For this year’s quarterfinals, we’re going to do what we did last season, and post updates at the end of every period of every game, both Div. I and Div. II, both boys and girls.
We’re looking for volunteers to phone in scores at the end of each period and, if possible, include goal scorers, shots on goal, etc. This worked really well last year and, in pretty close to real time, we were able to bring updates to people across the country and around the world.
If you’re willing to help out, please email cwarner@ushr.com and let us know which game you will be attending.
With your help, we can pull this project off again. It should be fun.
2/26/06 Updated
Wednesday's Quarterfinal Matchups
Div. I
#1 Berkshire vs. #8 Westminster -- 3:00 at Berkshire
#2 Pomfret vs. #7 Loomis -- 3:15 at Pomfret
#3 Nobles vs. #6 Andover -- 3:30 at Nobles
#4 Lawrence vs. #5 Choate -- 6:00 at Lawrence
Div. II
#1 Brewster vs. #8 Brooks -- 4:00 at Brewster
#2 Greenwich vs. #7 Kents Hill -- 3:30 at Dexter
#3 Rivers vs. #6 St. George's -- 4:00 at Rivers
#4 Hebron vs. #5 Kingswood -- 4:15 at Exeter
Sat. March 4 -- Semifinals
at Southfield School; Brookline, Mass.
Div. II
10:00 am -- 1/8 winner vs. 4/5 winner
12:00 pm -- 3/6 winner vs. 2/7 winner
Div. I
2:00 pm -- 1/8 winner vs. 4/5 winner
4:00 pm -- 3/6 winner vs. 2/7 winner
Sun. March 5 -- Finals
at Southfield School; Brookline, Mass.
10:30 am -- Div. II Championship Game
12:30 pm - Div. I Title Game
The Regular Season Winds Down
A week from now, the regular season will be over and we'll know the playoff pairings. Going into the final week, it looks like there are nine teams with a strong chance to make the playoffs in Div. I. They are, in alphabetical order, Andover, Berkshire, Choate, Hotchkiss, Lawrence, Loomis, Nobles, Pomfret, and Taft. Likely to fall a little short are Westminster and Cushing. In Div. II, the eight look to be Brewster, Brooks, GDA, Greenwich Academy, Groton, Gunnery, Hebron, and Kents Hill. Having good years in Div. II, but probably not good enough to make the postseason are Kingswood-Oxford, Middlesex, Proctor, and Rivers. The latter progam is in its second year.
The final week of the regular season looks like this:
Mon. Feb. 20, 2006:
N.E. Falcons @ Pomfret, 8:00
Tue. Feb. 21, 2006:
Kingswood-Oxford @ Taft, 4:30
Vermont Academy @ KUA, 4:30
Wed. Feb. 22, 2006:
Berkshire @ Taft, 2:30
Deerfield @ Williston-Northampton, 2:30
Brooks @ St. Mark's, 3:00
New Hampton @ KUA, 3:00
Middlesex @ BB&N, 3:15
Tabor @ Cushing, 3:15
Exeter @ Hebron, 3:30
Choate @ Hotchkiss, 3:30
Thayer @ Groton, 3:30
Millbrook @ Rye CD, 3:30
NMH @ Loomis-Chaffee, 4:00
St. Paul’s vs. St. George’s, 4:00 (at Groton School)
Berwick @ Pingree, 4:00
Greenwich @ Westminster, 4:30
Andover @ Holderness, 4:30
Milton @ Pomfret, 4:30
Kent's Hill @ Proctor, 4:30
Rivers @ Lawrence, 5:15
Canterbury @ Portsmouth Abbey, 5:00
Noble & Greenough @ Governor Dummer, 5:30
New England Coyotes @ Kent, 6:00
Thurs. Feb. 23, 2006:
Thayer @ St. Mark’s, 5:00
Fri. Feb. 24, 2006:
Southfield @ Rivers, 3:00
Thayer @ Tabor, 4:45
East Coast Wizards @ Pomfret, 7:00
Kingswood-Oxford @ Kents Hill, 8:00
Sat. Feb. 25, 2006:
Kingswood-Oxford @ Hebron, 1:00
Lebanon High School @ Proctor, 1:30
NMH @ Tabor, 1:30
Rivers @ Tilton, 2:00
Noble & Greenough @ Milton, 2:00
Exeter @ Andover, 2:00
Taft @ Hotchkiss, 2:30
Loomis-Chaffee @ Deerfield, 3:00
Portsmouth Abbey @ Greenwich Academy, 3:00
Groton @ St. Mark's, 3:45
KUA @ Williston, 3:45
Brooks @ Governor Dummer, 4:00
New Hampton @ Kent’s Hill, 4:00
St. Paul's @ Lawrence, 4:00
BB&N @ Thayer, 4:15
Conn. Northern Lights @ Canterbury, 4:45
Holderness @ Brewster, 5:00
Cushing @ Choate, 6:00
Westminster @ Kent, 6:30
This Week's Games
Mon. Feb. 13, 2006:
Kent @ Taft, 5:00
Brooks @ Noble & Greenough, 5:00
Wed. Feb. 15, 2006:
Thayer @ Kingswood-Oxford, 2:00
Taft @ Westminster, 2:30
Canterbury @ Millbrook, 2:30
Kent @ Hotchkiss, 2:30
Holderness @ Vermont Academy, 2:30
KUA @ Tilton, 2:30
NMH @ Williston, 2:30
Pomfret @ St. Mark's, 2:45
Cushing @ Deerfield, 2:45
Groton @ Brooks, 3:00
Exeter @ New Hampton, 3:00
Middlesex @ Lawrence, 3:30
Pingree @ Dana Hall, 3:45
St. Paul's @ BB&N, 4:00
Brunswick @ Winsor, 4:00
Kent’s Hill @ Brewster, 4:00
Choate @ Berkshire, 4:00
Andover @ Noble & Greenough, 4:30
Greenwich @ Gunnery, 4:30
Hebron @ Proctor, 4:30
St. George's @ Milton, 5:00
Loomis @ Springfield Pics, 5:00
Rivers @ GDA, 5:45
Thurs. Feb. 16, 2006:
Choate @ Kingswood-Oxford, 5:00
Fri. Feb. 17, 2006:
Holderness @ New Hampton, 2:00
Greenwich vs. Brewster, 4:15 (@ Rye CD)
Brooks @ Middlesex, 5:00
Milton @ Andover, 5:00
Tabor @ St. Mark's, 5:30
Berwick @ Newton CD, 5:00
Southfield @ Winsor, 5:15
Concord High School @ Proctor, 6:30
Sat. Feb. 18, 2006:
Hanover HS @ Holderness, 1:15
BB&N @ St. Mark's, 1:30
Brewster @ Gunnery, 1:30
Northfield Mt. Hermon @ Exeter, 1:30
Lawrence @ Governor Dummer, 2:00
Thayer @ Kent’s Hill, 2:00
Cushing @ Pomfret, 2:15
Kent @ Kingswood-Oxford, 2:30
Tilton @ Vermont Academy, 2:45
Hotchkiss @ Deerfield, 3:30
St. Paul's @ Noble & Greenough, 3:30
Choate @ Taft, 4:00
Williston @ Loomis, 4:00
Proctor @ Pingree, 4:30
Tabor @ New Hampton, 4:30
Mon. Feb. 20, 2006:
N.E. Falcons @ Pomfret, 8:00
Tue. Feb. 21, 2006:
Kingswood-Oxford @ Taft, 4:30
Vermont Academy @ KUA, 4:30
2/8/06
Chessare, Gallagher Lead St. Mark's
Milton, Mass. -- Freshman forward Caroline Chessare scored the game winner and junior goaltender Megan Gallager kicked out 20 shots to lead St. Mark's to a 3-1 win over Milton Academy here today.
On the winning goal, which came at the 9:10 mark of the third period, senior Rachel Lindmark drove to the net and Chessare knocked home the rebound, giving St. Mark's a 2-1 lead.
Freshman Casey Pickett added an empty-netter with 14 seconds left for the final 3-1 margin of victory.
Early on, it looked like St. Mark's might win this one handily, as they dominated the first period, but were unable to score on Milton junior goalie Amanda Rothschild, who kept the Mustangs in the game.
Between periods, Milton woke up and came out for the second with some jam, getting a couple of good scoring opportunities early.
However, it was St. Mark's who scored first, as Lindmark knocked home a pass from the corner that seemed to deflect off a skate or stick before eluding Rothschild at the 10:12 mark. Shannon Coffey and Merly Poulin were awarded assists on the goal.
At the buzzer, Poulin was given a major and a game DQ for a hit from behind, giving Milton a four-minute power play to start the third.
Milton was unable to generate much offense, as St. Mark's killed the penalty aggressively.
However, 34 seconds after killing off the penalty, St. Mark's was whistled for another penalty. And on this one, Milton cashed in, tying the game up at 1-1 when Meredith Frechette-Moulter knocked home the rebound Hillary McNamara shot at the 5:15 mark.
Less than four minutes later St. Mark's would strike for the winning goal.
Afterward, St. Mark's head coach Marissa Halligan said, "We played really well shorthanded and capitalized on our chances. Megan played really well between the pipes."
Down the hall, Milton head coach Wendy Holden said she felt her team recovered well from a poor first period.
"By the third period, it really looked like a game. I would have liked to have seen the whole game like that. It also would have been nice to take advantage of the (four minute) power play."
2/6/06
This Week's Games
Wed. Feb. 08, 2006:
Exeter @ Kimball Union, 1:30
Kent @ Canterbury, 2:00
Millbrook @ Gunnery, 2:30
Cushing @ Lawrence, 3:00
Williston @ Choate, 3:00
Dana Hall @ Thayer, 3:10
Proctor @ Berwick, 3:15
Berkshire @ Pomfret, 3:30
St. George's @ BB&N, 3:30
Noble & Greenough @ Groton, 3:30
Wyoming Seminary @ Hill, 4:00
Hotchkiss @ Loomis, 4:00
Winsor @ Pingree, 4:00
St. Paul’s @ Middlesex, 4:00
Brewster @ Rivers, 4:10
Deerfield @ Westminster, 4:30
Holderness @ Brooks, 4:30
Tabor @ Andover, 4:30
NMH @ Kingswood-Oxford, 4:30
St. Mark's @ Milton, 5:15
Taft @ Greenwich, 5:15
Kents Hill @ New Hampton, 6:00
Fri. Feb. 10, 2006:
Thayer @ St. Mark's, 3:30
Pingree @ Newton CD, 3:45
Nichols @ Cushing, 4:00
NYA @ Hebron, 4:45
Governor Dummer @ Exeter, 4:45
Rivers @ Winsor, 5:15
Andover @ Brewster, 5:30
BB&N @ Noble & Greenough, 6:00
Lawrenceville @ Greenwich, 6:30
Sat. Feb. 11, 2006:
Nichols @ Noble & Greenough, 12:00
Greenwich @ Northfield Mt. Hermon, 1:00
Proctor @ Holderness, 1:30
Berwick @ KUA, 1:30
Lawrence @ Thayer, 1:45
St. Mark's @ Rivers, 2:00
Tabor @ Pomfret, 2:15
Deerfield @ Berkshire, 2:15
Choate @ Loomis, 2:30
GDA @ St. Paul’s, 2:30
Kingswood-Oxford @ Gunnery, 2:30
Hotchkiss @ Taft, 2:30
Middlesex @ Milton, 2:30
Brooks @ St. George's, 2:45
Hebron @ Brewster, 3:30
Lawrenceville @ Canterbury, 4:00
New Hampton @ Vermont Academy, 4:00
Exeter @ Kent's Hill, 4:30
Shady Side Academy @ Princeton DS, 5:15
Millbrook @ Kent, 7:30
Sun. Feb. 12, 2006:
Hill @ Canterbury, 11:00 am
Mon. Feb. 13, 2006:
Kents Hill @ Hebron, 4:00
Kent @ Taft, 5:00
Brooks @ Noble & Greenough, 5:00
This Week's Games
Wed. Feb. 1, 2006:
Hotchkiss @ Berkshire, 2:00
Westminster @ Pomfret, 2:30
Proctor @ Vermont Academy, 2:30
Andover @ Exeter, 2:45
Taft @ Williston-Northampton, 3:00
Brewster @ Cushing, 3:00
Thayer @ Brooks, 3:00
Loomis @ Gunnery, 3:00
St. Paul’s @ St. Mark's, 3:15
Millbrook @ Kingswood-Oxford, 3:30
Noble & Greenough @ St. George's, 4:00
Berwick @ Tilton, 4:00
New Hampton @ Southfield, 4:00
Kents Hill vs. KUA (@ Exeter), 4:15
Springfield Pics @ Deerfield, 4:30
Portsmouth Abbey @ Pingree, 4:30
NMH @ Choate, 4:30
Greenwich @ Kent, 4:30
Lawrence @ Milton, 4:30
Wyoming Seminary @ Lawrenceville, 4:30
Governor Dummer @ BB&N, 4:45
Holderness @ Hebron, 4:45
Groton @ Middlesex, 5:30
Conn. Stars @ Canterbury, 6:00
Fri. Feb. 3, 2006:
Berkshire @ Cushing, 2:00
Dana Hall @ Berwick, 4:00
NAHA @ Exeter, 4:30
Hebron @ Middlesex, 4:30
BB&N @ Pingree, 5:00
Lawrence @ Tabor, 6:30
Dover U-16 @ Proctor, 6:30
Sat. Feb. 4, 2006:
Greenwich vs. Southfield, 10:30 am (@ Middlebury College)
Rivers @ Milton, 12:00
Brooks @ Noble & Greenough, 2:00
Kimball Union @ Proctor, 2:00
Thayer @ Exeter, 2:00
Vermont Academy @ NMH, 2:30
Lawrenceville @ Hill School, 4:00
Kents Hill @ Holderness, 4:00
Winsor @ Berwick, 5:30
New Hampton @ Tilton, 6:00
Springfield Pics @ Tabor, 6:00
NCCC @ Northwood, 7:00
