11/16/08
Sheary, Calvanico Lead Cushing Past Northwood
Amherst, Mass. – Cushing Academy, after missing the playoffs last year, wanted to make a statement today, and did, with a convincing 6-1 win over Northwood at the back rink at UMass-Amherst.The game was no classic. There were a lot of turnovers, scrambly play, and passes that didn’t connect. However, as the final score indicates, most of those mistakes were Northwood’s.
Cushing’s first line set the tone of the game. After a long feeling-out stretch to start the contest, the Penguins broke through with about seven minutes left in the period. Cushing junior forward Conor Sheary did the heavy work. With the puck behind the net, on the stick of a Northwood defenseman, the 5’8” Sheary buzzed in, flattened the Northwood defenseman, stole the puck, and fed it to his linemate, junior Mike Conderman in the slot. Conderman buried it for the first Cushing goal of the season.
Cushing went ahead 2-1 when senior D Grant Telfer moved the puck out of the Cushing end to Conderman, who tipped it over to Sheary in the neutral zone. Sheary carried it into the Northwood end and, from about four feet inside the blue line, ripped one top shelf past startled Northwood junior goaltender Raphael Girard.
Early in the second, Northwood got on the board. Nick Cecere took a shot from the point that rebounded to PG Ben McLaughlin whose shot, in turn, rebounded to Steven Verrilli. The 5’8” senior knocked it past Marcus Calvanico, Cushing’s 6’3” junior goalie, at the 3:15 mark.
For most of the second, it was a one-goal game. With 4:32 remaining, though, senior center Neil Lavanchy drew the puck back to his winger, Kenny Simon, who put it upstairs to give Cushing a 3-1 lead.
A little over a minute later, Cushing would make it 4-1 when junior Brendan Cocklin tucked home a backdoor rebound. Casey Brugman and Petter Aronsson assisted.
In the third, Cushing added a couple more. On the first, just 36 seconds in, Brugman made a nice play getting the puck to the net, and then Simon took care of the rest, scoring his second of the game when he poked the puck home from a scrum at the edge of the crease.
At the 10:24 mark, junior Brian Troy scored off a nice Aronsson pass to account for the final 6-1 margin of victory.
Cushing outshot Northwood, 30-22.
”We got great goaltending,” said Cushing second-year head coach Rob Gagnon. “And our defensemen kept it simple, getting it to our forwards with short five-foot passes. The strength of our team is keeping it simple. If we do that we can be effective because of our team speed.”
”Northwood is a great opponent, but they may have been tired after playing a good Gunnery team last night. And our guys were amped up and ready to go. I think this game was a statement that our guys are ready to play this year.”
Northwood head coach Jeff Matthews wasn’t about to use the Saturday evening game, which Northwood won 6-3, as an excuse.
”In college you have to play back-to-back,” Matthews explained. “And that’s the level these guys aspire to.”
”I am disappointed in our effort. Cushing deserved to win. They out-competed us. The won more battles. They wanted it more.”
Notes:
Northwood’s defensive corps was without talented junior Marc-Antoine Carrier, who is out with a high ankle sprain. On top of that , Nick Pokulok missed the first period with a skate problem. As a group, though, they were out of sync all day.
Tilton School Girls Holiday Tournament
-- at Tilton, NH; Dec. 19-20, 2008:
Teams:
Tilton School
New Hampton School
Winsor School
Berwick Academy
Kuper Academy (Montreal)
Stanstead College
Schedule:
Fri. Dec. 19, 2008:
3:30 pm – New Hampton vs. Kuper
5:15 pm -- Berwick vs. Stanstead
7:00 pm -- Tilton vs. Winsor
Sat. Dec. 20, 2008:
8:00 pm -- Kuper vs. Stanstead
9:45 pm -- Berwick vs. Tilton
11:30 pm -- Winsor vs. New Hampton
2:00 pm -- 5 v. 6
3:45 pm -- 3 v. 4
5:30 pm -- 1 v. 2 Championship
***
Canterbury Girls’ Holiday Classic
-- at New Milford, Conn; Dec. 19-21, 2008
Participating Teams:
Kingswood –Oxford (CT)
Rye Country Day (NY)
Canterbury (CT)
Vermont Academy (VT)
Hill School (PA)
Kents Hill (ME)
Northfield - Mt. Hermon (MA)
Millbrook (NY)
Fri. Dec. 19, 2008:
Game #1 2:00 pm -- Canterbury vs Hill
Game #2 4:00 pm -- Kingswood vs Rye C.D.
Game #3 6:00 pm -- Millbrook vs NMH
Game #4 8:00 pm -- Vermont vs Kents Hill
Sat. Dec. 20, 2008:
Game # 5 9:00 am -- Loser Game 1 vs Loser Game 2
Game #6 11:00 am -- Loser Game 3 vs Loser Game 4
Game # 7 1:00 pm -- Winner Game 1 vs Winner Game 2 (Winner to Final)
Game # 8 3:00 pm -- Winner Game 3 vs Winner Game 4 (Winner to Final)
Game #9 5:00 pm -- Loser Game 5 vs Loser Game 6 7th/8th Place
Game #10 7:00 pm -- Winner Game 5 vs Winner Game 6 5th/6th Place
Sun. Dec. 21, 2008:
Game # 11 10:00 pm -- Loser Game 7 vs Loser Game 8 3rd place game
Game # 12 12:00 pm -- Winner Game 7 vs Winner Game 8 Championship game
