11/29/08 Updated

Sat. Nov. 29 Jamboree Results

-- at Belmont, Mass., morning games: 

Winchendon 6, Belmont Hill 4 -- Belmont Hill, on goals by Connor Brickley, Matt Ronan, and Brandon McNally, took a 3-0 first period lead, but Winchendon's Hugo Turcotte cut it to 3-1 before the break. Winchendon then exploded for three quick ones early in the second -- from Corey Lee, Adam Hercules (great name!), and Adam Dallaire – to go up 4-3. Jack McNamara came back and tied it up for Belmont Hill at 4-4. In the third period, though, a shot from the point by Winchendon defenseman Patrick Coulombe found its way through a crowd in front. A power play goal, it put Winchendon up 5-4 and turned out to be the game winner. PG Corey Bellamy (younger brother of Rob and Kasey) added an insurance goal with 1:29 left.

This win was no fluke. Belmont Hill is a good team, but so is Winchendon, which not only worked extremely hard, but also has some skilled players. 5’8” senior center Hugo Turcotte, a crafty type from Laval, Que. with good hands and hockey sense, was very noticeable, as was his Raphael Pouliot, his 6’3”, 205 lb. winger. Pouliot, a 4/16/91 birthdate who played on the Quebec Under-17 team at last winter’s World Under-17 Challenge, is eligible for June’s NHL draft and will be followed. Going solely on today's game, we saw late-round potential. Other forwards we liked included 5’7” junior center Phil Arnone, who played on the Monarchs Empire team last year and can scoot; Hercules, a 6’3” PG out of the OPJHL; and Bellamy, whom we mentioned. On the blue line we liked 6’1” PG Brad Devereaux, formerly at Hingham High; and 5’9” Evan Yanovitch, who played on state runner-up Malden Catholic last winter. Winchendon’s 5’9” goalie, Ben Meisner, showed quickness, which allowed him to recover quickly.

As for Belmont Hill, senior Michael Condon, who played the first two periods before giving way to Derek Metcalfe for the third, was not up to his usual standards. He might have lost his focus a bit during the minutes that Winchendon reeled off three quick ones. The McNally-Brickley-Ronan line looked very good for Belmont Hill. Big sophomore defenseman Dylan Pike moves well for a kid his age and size.

 Proctor 3, Governor’s 3 – After getting drubbed 11-1 by Nobles in a Friday afternoon scrimmage, Proctor head coach Mike Walsh was interested in seeing how his kids would respond. “You get your butt whipped, you better show up for the next day,” he said. Well, did they? “I think our guys responded well, at least for two periods. In the third, it got away from us a bit.”

This was a curious game, GDA only has four defenseman on their roster this season, and one of them, sophomore Reed Kennedy, was injured. So coach Peter Kravchuk adjusted his strategy, which the forwards struggled early to adjust to. However, there is plenty of skill up front on this team. Core players like Brian Ward, Cody Ferriero, and Alex Gacek – all underclassmen are back. Two new forwards with significant upside are 6’1”, 160 lb. sophomore Nick Wirth of Ashburn, Virginia; and 6’0”, 185 lb. junior Jake Picking of Wellesley, Mass. Both are legit Div. I prospects.

As for the game, Proctor was led offensively by PG Rob Toczylowski, a big winger off the Reading High team that won the Mass state championship last March. Toczylowski, dangerous down low, figured in all three Proctor goals, scoring two and assisting on a third – a really nice goalmouth pass, actually.

Picking scored for Governor’s in the second period. Trailing 3-1 entering the third, Governor’s got goals from Trevor Hines, who snapped one under the crossbar; and Ferriero, who, on the power play, converted a Gacek pass. With the score tied 3-3 Governor’s poured it on late, and hit a ridiculous number of posts. If they were aiming at the posts, they couldn’t have done any better. Did you know that a former Tabor student who played at Middlebury studied color and did a study that postulated the theory that the eye is drawn to a color like red, which makes it the absolutely wrong color for posts. The colors, he believes, should be flipped, i.e. red twine and white posts. But he was a forward. Goalies are perfectly happy with the way things are.

Note:

Proctor sophomore Brett Kangas, the son of Williams coach Billy Kangas, was hammered into the end boards in the second period and taken to the hospital, where a catscan showed he had a grade two concussion. He'll be out 7=10 days. 

Afternoon games:

Belmont Hill 2, Proctor 2 – A third period goal from Mike McNamara, off a pass from brother Jack McNamara lifted Belmont Hill to a 2-2 tie with Proctor. Brandon McNally scored Belmont Hill’s other goal. Proctor, which was down a d-man (Kangas) and a forward (Connor Toomey DQ'd due to a hit from behind in the day's first game), got a very strong goaltending performance from sophomore Frank McCormick of Peabody, Mass. and St. Mary's of Lynn. Junior Keith Buehler and PG Rob Toczlowski scored the Hornets' goals.

Governor's 7, Winchendon 3 -- Alex Gacek, Cody Ferriero, and Brian Ward led the attack (no scoresheets were kept at these games so we can't give you precise details), and Dom Malerba and Luke Montoni split duties in net.


At Needham, Mass.:

Nobles 7, St. Sebastian’s 4 – No rosters, no numbers on the jerseys, so this was a tough one on the scouts who showed up. At any rate, Nobles’ top line will be tough to handle this year, as Billy Arnold (3g,2a), Kevin Hayes (1g,4a), and Matt Harlow (1g,2a) again led the way. Gus Young looked good on the Nobles blue line. Steve Rogers, Chris Brown, and Dom Jancaterino played well for the Arrows. Goaltending at both ends was suspect.

At Alpharetta, Georgia:

Lawrence 7, New England Stars 5 – details to follow

Hebron 8, Florida Alliance 5 – Florida came out flying and held a 5-3 lead at the end of the first half. In the second half, Hebron went to work, scoring five unanswered goals. Junior Andy Bettencourt (3g,1a), senior Chad Goodwin (1g,3a), PG Eric Rodriguez (1g,1a), senior Billy Brewster (1g,1a), and junior Bryan Felice (2a) led the Hebron attack.Four of Hebron’s goals came on the powerplay. Shots were 44-31 in favor of Hebron.

Cushing 3, New England Stars 3 -- For Cushing, Mike Bosco notched a pairand Neil Lavanchy had one. For the New England Stars, Jeff Gee, Guillaume Vallee, and Adam Chevarie each scored one goal. Owen Clark was in net for the Penguins, and Josh Brand for the Stars.

At Union College, Schenectady, NY:

Northwood 2, Salisbury 1 – Northwood came out with a lot of jump to their game. On the power play, PG Ben McLaughlin deflected home a Marc-Antoine Carrier shot from the point for a 1-0 lead. Later in the period, Adam Berkle set up Jordan Hobaica for a nice goal to make it 2-0. In the second half, Salisbury got their legs under them and played much better, with Max Edson scoring a power play goal to make it 2-1, which is where it ended. Northwood outshot Salisbury, 26-19. 

“Salisbury has a nice team,” Northwood coach Jeff Matthews said. “The fact that we have played more was an obvious advantage in terms of playing our system. But we had to hold them off. The game had a good pace.”

Matthews also reports that, about ten minutes into the second half, Salisbury goaltender Andy Iles came up with an unbelievable save, one of the best he’d ever seen at any level – one of those diving-across-the-net-with- the-glove-coming-out-of-nowhere saves.

Junior Raphael Girard had a strong game in net for Northwood.

 St. Andrew’s 5, Pomfret 2 – no details available. 

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        7^th/8^th Place
Game #10 7:00 pm -- Winner Game  5  vs Winner Game 6  5^th/6^th Place

Sun. Dec. 21, 2008:

Game # 11   10:00 pm -- Loser Game 7  vs Loser Game 8          3^rd place game
Game #  12  12:00 pm -- Winner Game 7   vs Winner Game 8   Championship game