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Sat. 3/7/15

Saturday's Semifinal Results

Sat. March 7, 2015
at Campus Sites

Elite 8:

Dexter 4 @ Gunnery 2

This game started off hard and fast. Just terrific hockey. Every check was finished, and high-skill plays were in abundance. From the get-go Dexter sought to take away Gunnery's home advantage, and cashed in pretty quickly as freshman center Jay O'Brien, on a partial breakaway, waited out Gunnery junior goalie Trevin Kozlowski before beating him inside the post, low glove side, at the 4:51 mark.

Junior Patrick Daly would make it 2-0 after linemate Ryan Donato forced a turnover on the forecheck. Daly sneaked it under Kozlowski's arm, the puck just trickling in.

The second period was scoreless. Gunnery did ring a couple shots off the crossbar behind Dexter senior goalie Nick Lanni and, at the other end, Kozlowski made a pair of spectacular saves, first robbing Ryan Donato on a shorthanded 2-on-1 (which led to a hooking call on Gunnery, evening up the sides for some 4x4 hockey), and then shortly after making a sprawling save on Bryan Green.   

The third period started off with some odd refereeing. Dexter started off the period on the PP. Gunnery won the faceoff, and iced the puck. It was a blatant missed call. On the ensuing faceoff in Gunnery's end, a Dexter win on the draw led to a puck battle and another penalty on Gunnery. Now the referees, recognizing their original error, kept the penalties as were, but put the faceoff at center ice. Jack Donato ended up scoring on a one-timer from Ryan Donato just after the 5x3 ended, putting Dexter up 3-0 at the 2:05 mark of the third period.

Gunnery took back the momentum over the following three minutes, but had nothing to show for it until Cam Donaldson scored a PPG at the 5:14 mark.

The game was back-and-forth for the next ten minutes, with each team trading odd-man rushes, body blows, and great puck battles.

Shawn Knowlton gave the Highlanders some hope at the 14:28 mark, banking a shot of Lanni's leg from below the goal line.

In the final minute, with Gunnery's goalie pulled for the extra attacker, Kevin Hock beat out an icing to kill 20 seconds off the clock while holding the puck in the Gunnery end.

Ultimately, a forced turnover in the neutral zone gave Patrick Daly a layup of an empty-net goal as time expired.

For the game, Gunnery outshot Dexter 24-23.

Dexter, a #7 seed, moves on to face #5 seed Salisbury in tomorrow's championship game, a showdown between coach Dan Donato's former team and his current team. Donato coached Salisbury for six years ('01-'07) and brought the school its first Div. I title in 2006.

Note: Since Nick Lanni became Dexter's full-time goalie on Jan. 21, his record is 12-0-2 with four shutouts and 18 goals allowed. The senior has a .941 save percentage.

Salisbury 4, Kimball Union Academy 2 (game played at Loomis)

Things started out badly for KUA as senior forward Jack McCarthy, on a cross-check, suffered a hip pointer and was done for the day -- on his first shift of the game.

Right off the bat, KUA coach Tim Whitehead had to juggle his lines; nonetheless, it was the Wildcats that got on the board first, off a Connor Jean shot from the left faceoff dot.

Salisbury answered when senior defenseman Quincy Gregg eluded a forechecker, and moved the puck up to fellow d-man Brett Stirling who, in turn, spotted junior Luke Israel at the back door. It was a 1-1 game and that's how the first period -- a fairly even period with a good pace -- ended up. 

Several minutes into the second, Salisbury junior Tom Lee hit a post.

At the 6:25 mark, 6'2" Salisbury junior Mike O'Leary scored a back-door goal off an assist from Kale Kane to make it 2-1 Salisbury.

Salisbury stretched its lead to 3-1 when Kane entered the KUA zone down the right side and, from the faceoff circle, fired one high far side at the 9:06 mark.

KUA got one back when Ben Finkelstein received the puck at the left point and one-timed a low shot past Salisbury goalie Bailey MacBurnie to make it 3-2.

That's how the second ended, a fairly wide-open period that was hampered by tentative and inconsistent officiating. The players, not knowing what would be called and what wouldn't, never seemed to really lock horns and play the kind of physical game these two teams played in their quarterfinal wins on Wednesday.

In the third, Salisbury was back on their heels, sitting on the lead. KUA worked harder and took a measure of control, but not a full measure. Though they had a good amount of possession time, they had difficulty working the puck into prime scoring areas. 

KUA's Ben Finkelstein took a penalty with 5:38 left, which didn't help.

With 1:10 left, Wildcats goalie Oscar Flory was pulled for the extra attacker.

With an empty net in front of him and 24 seconds on the clock, Salisbury's Anthony Vincent poked the puck free and chipped it out. After he got a step on the d-man and was breaking in for an empty-net attempt, the KUA defender threw his stick along the ice, knocking the puck away from danger. The officials ruled it a goal, which was the correct call -- on a very rare play.

"I thought it was a hard-fought, tightly-contested game between two deep teams with a lot of similarities," said Salisbury coach Andrew Will.

"In the first period, I thought both teams were tight. In the second period emotions kicked in more, but I thought we lost  a little composure, which showed when we took two penalties in the offensive zone. But we were good until the third when we had the lead and were back on our heels."

"This was not our best 54-minute game top to bottom." said Will. "But we blocked shots, got some timely goals, and some good defensive play."

"We're excited," Will added, "to be in the finals for the third year in a row."

Kimball Union coach Tim Whitehead said, "I'm extremely proud of the character and resiliency of our guys. They have gone all year long not ranked #1 but these playoff games really brought out their best. The kids saw this as an opportunity to make this their own team."

"They left it all out there on the ice. It was a good, hard-fought game."


Large Schools:
@ Belmont Hill 5, Thayer 4
Brooks 4 @ Choate 3 (OT)

Small Schools:
@ St. Mark's 5, Proctor 4
@ Westminster 4, Rivers 2

***
Schedule -- Sunday's Championship Games
@ Sullivan Ice Arena, St. Anselm College; Manchester, NH 03102

-- Piatelli/Simmons Tournament (Small School)
    St. Mark's vs. Westminster, 12:00 pm

-- Martin/Earl Tournament (Large School)
    Belmont Hill vs. Brooks, 2:30 pm:

-- Stuart/Corkery Tournament (Elite 8)
    Salisbury vs. Dexter, 5:00 pm

Sun. 3/8/15

St. Paul's, Rivers are the 2015 Champs
Sunday March 8, 2015
At the Berkshire School; Sheffield, Mass.

Div. I
St. Paul's 6, Pomfret 2

Div. I Tournament MVP:
St. Paul's senior F Bridget Carey

***
Div. II
Rivers 5, Southfield 1

Div. II Tournament MVP:
Rivers senior F Jordan Cross

Sat. 3/7/15

2015 Girls Prep Semifinals

Saturday March 7, 2015
at Campus Sites

DI
Pomfret 2 @ Kent 1 (2-OT)
St. Paul's 1 @ Williston 0

DII
@ Rivers 3, Berwick 2 
Southfield 6 @ Worcester 2 (Game was played at St. Mark's) 

Wed. 3/4/15

2015 Girls Prep Quarterfinals

Wed. March 4, 2015

DI
@ Kent 3, Loomis 1 (empty net goal)
@ Williston 3, Choate 1
St. Paul's 2 @ Nobles 0 (empty net goal)
Pomfret 3 @ Tabor 2 (2OT)

DII
@ Rivers 2, Gunnery 1
@ Berwick 3, Proctor 1
@ Worcester 3, St. George's 2 (OT)
@ Southfield 6, Canterbury 2

Sat. March 7, 2015 Semifinal Schedule

DI
Pomfret @ Kent, 3:00 pm
St. Paul's @ Williston, 3:00 pm

DII
Berwick @ Rivers, 2:00 pm
Southfield vs. Worcester, 11:30 am (at St. Mark's)

Tues. 3/3/15

2015 Girls Prep Playoff Schedule

Wednesday, March 4 -- Quarterfinals -- at Campus Sites

Div. I
#1 Kent vs. #8 Loomis, 5:00 pm -- @ Kent
#2 Williston vs. #7 Choate, 4:15 pm -- @ Williston
#3 Nobles vs. #6 St. Paul's, 3:00 pm -- @ Nobles
#4 Tabor vs. #5 Pomfret, 4:15 pm -- @ Tabor

Div. II
#1 Rivers vs. #8 Gunnery, 5:15 pm -- @ Rivers
#2 Worcester vs. #7 St. George's, 2:30 pm -- @ NESC, Marlborough, Mass.
#3 Southfield vs. #6 Canterbury, 3:00 pm -- @ Southfield
#4 Berwick vs. #5 Proctor, 4:00 pm -- @ Berwick

Saturday, March 7, 2015 -- Semifinals -- at Higher Seeds

Div. I
#1-8 winner vs. #4-5 winner
#2-7 winner vs. #3-6 winner

Div. II
#1-8 winner vs. #4-5 winner
#2-7 winner vs. #3-6 winner

Sunday, March 8, 2015 -- Championship Games -- at the Berkshire School

Div. II -- 12:30 pm
Div. I -- 3:00 pm

Sun. 3/1/15

2015 Girls Prep Tournament Seeding

Here is the seeding for the 2015 girls tournament:

D-I
1. Kent (Kent and Williston tied for first, Kent wins tiebreaker)
2. Williston
3. Nobles
4. Tabor
5. Pomfret
6. St. Paul's
7. Choate
8. Loomis

D-II
1. Rivers
2. Worcester
3. Southfield
4. Berwick
5. Proctor
6. Canterbury
7. St. George's
8. Gunnery