It was a wild Wednesday night around NEPSAC boys hockey, but mainly in the Elite 8. Three of the top four seeds will be watching the rest of the tournament from home.
In the Large and Small School brackets, only one lower seed beat a higher seed.
Out of the 12 games, only one needed overtime. In the Large School, three of the games had the same score, and every Small School win was by three or more goals.
A weird night.
Here are the complete results from all three tournaments.
Elite 8Â
- No. 8 Avon Old Farms 4, No. 1 Dexter Southfield 2
- No. 2 St. Mark's 7, No. 7 Belmont Hill 2
- No. 6 Kimball Union 1, No. 3 Salisbury 0
- No. 5 Hotchkiss 3, No. 4 St. Sebastian's 0
Large SchoolÂ
- No. 1 Tabor 2, No. 8 Choate 1
- No. 2 Cushing 2, No. 7 Deerfield 1 (OT)
- No. 3 Phillips Andover 5, St. Paul's 1
- No. 4 Brunswick 2, No. 5 Thayer 1
Small SchoolÂ
- No. 1 Holderness 9, No. 8 Pomfret 6
- No. 2 Winchendon 7, No. 7 New Hampton 1
- No. 3 Canterbury 4, No. 6 St. George's 1
- No. 5 Berkshire 5, No. 4 Rivers 0
While I caught bits and pieces of the early Large and Small School games, my focus was on watching the four Elite 8 matchups. Watching four streams at once is hard enough. I did add some thoughts about the Large and Small School tournaments at the end.
Let's dive in.
No. 8 Avon Old Farms 4, No. 1 Dexter Southfield 2
1. What. An. Upset. Avon was 1-6-2 in its last nine games entering Wednesday night. The Winged Beavers looked far from an Elite 8 team over the last month. But against Dexter, the team that went 14-1-1 in the first two months showed up. Head coach Mark Naclerio's team played like the squad that was No. 1 in JSPR for a lot of the season. Late-season collapse be damned.
2. This probably gets remembered as the Ethan Gingeleskie game. The sophomore forward, who only recently returned from injury, scored at the 10:35 mark of the first period when he gathered a loose puck in the slot and fired it past Dexter goalie Drew Karlovits (Cohasset, Mass.). About three minutes later, Gingeleskie (West Hartford, Conn.) entered the offensive zone, cut middle and shot one past Karlovits again. Gingeleskie also registered an assist later in the game, but those two early goals put a doubt in Dexter that they played with the rest of the game.
3. Usually, it's the home team that gets the bounces, but Avon got a huge one. On a Dexter power play early in the third period, Avon defender Marshall Paul dumped the puck in, but it hit a part of the boards where it bounced out in front of the Dexter net, which is where forward Maks Morgoslepov was. The junior forward had no problem scoring — that extended Avon's lead to 3-1.
GIRLS BRACKETS: Elite 8 field | Large School field | Small School field
4. A lot of props to Avon goalie Anthony Palmer (Lynnfield, Mass.). The goal he gave up to Dexter defender Myles Brosnan (Winchester, Mass.) was a snipe on the power play, but the one he gave up to Dexter forward Nick D'Olympio (Rockland, Mass.) right after the Morgoslepov goal was one he'd want back. The senior netminder locked in and was perfect the rest of the way, making some big stops late. He finished with 31 saves.
5. Entering the third period, I'm going to assume most watching this game thought Dexter, who was down 3-2, was going to come out flying. Instead, just over a minute in, Avon defenseman Max Yakub slipped a gorgeous pass to Sean Millen (Wethersfield, Conn.) for a one-timer goal. Another punch from Avon. Dexter never recovered.
6. Avon set the tone early when forward Liam Donnelly got a breakaway and missed wide a minute or so into the game. The Winged Beavers proved they weren't going to be walked all over.
7. Avon completely shut Dexter down. The Winged Beavers closed off the middle of the ice and gave the Shields nothing in the third period.
No. 2 St. Mark's 7, No. 7 Belmont Hill 2
1. I've said all along: St. Mark's big guns have to be their big guns. And on Wednesday, they were the big guns.
2. St. Mark's forward Evan Nee's (Arlington, Mass.) shorthanded slapshot goal to put the Lions up 2-0 early in the second period was massive. The senior grabbed the puck and had a breakaway, but the Belmont Hill defender was close to catching him, so Nee uncorked one from the top of the circle. He was skating so fast that the pixels couldn't keep up with him on the stream. Nee finished with two goals and an assist. He showed up.
3. St. Mark's forwards Caiden Pellegrino (Uxbridge, Mass.) and Will Manchuso (Concord, Mass.) also had big games. Pellegrino was everywhere, while Manchuso's end-to-end rush for a goal in the third period ended Belmont Hill's comeback attempt (more on that in a bit).
4. But as big as the top guys were, depth scoring also got the Lions the win. Forward Will Cooney (Wellesley, Mass.) opened the scoring. Forwards Grady Bishop (Ashland, Mass.) and Max Santos tallied goals in the second. St. Mark's will need that to continue.
5. St. Mark's opened the third period with a 4-0 lead, but that quickly got cut in half when Belmont Hill forward Liam Boyle (Needham, Mass.) scored twice on shots from out high. Until Manchuso's goal, it looked like St. Mark's recent playoff demons (three straight years of quarterfinal losses) were coming back to haunt them.
6. A good night for St. Mark's goalie Aaron Alves-Thomas (Uxbridge, Mass.), who registered 26 saves.
No. 6 Kimball Union 1, No. 3 Salisbury 0
1. This will likely be remembered as the Cam Ingram game. The Kimball Union goalie was perfect, making 28 saves. He made several tough, in-tight stops on chances towards the end of the first period as Salisbury looked like it was about to score. The same was true in the third as Salisbury pushed. There was one sequence in which it looked like he made three or four saves right above the crease. He was outstanding.
BOYS BRACKETS: Elite 8 field | Large School field | Small School field
2. If Salisbury had scored the lone goal, I'd be saying it was the Jordan Rittenberg game. The Salisbury netminder was one goal short of being as good, making 34 stops. KUA was pushing hard in the second period and getting some quality chances on Rittenberg that he turned aside.
3. The lone goal certainly wasn't Rittenberg's fault. With 9:08 to play in the game, there was a bit of a defensive breakdown in front of the Salisbury net. KUA forward Xander Boutilier won a battle behind the net and shoveled the puck to Dawson Wood (Barrington, R.I.) in front, who was all alone and scored.
4. This was one of the most structured, defensive, well-coached games I've ever seen.
5. Kimball Union likely won this game on a penalty kill with under five minutes to play in the game. KUA's four-man unit shut down Salisbury. Minutes later, the Wildcats shut the Crimson Knights down when they pulled Rittenberg. That led to Kimball Union forward Josh Phillips drawing a penalty, which put KUA on a power play for the final 19 seconds of the game, ensuring a win.
No. 5 Hotchkiss 3, No. 4 St. Sebastian's 0
1. Hotchkiss looked like the better team from the opening puck drop. When Bearcats forward Jake Doherty (Bolton, Mass.) fired a shot past St. Sebastian's goalie Tommy Saulnier (Medfield, Mass.) just over five minutes into the game, it set the tone and quieted the building. Hotchkiss never gave up that lead.
2. The Bearcats did a fantastic job of controlling the game and getting up on St. Sebastian's puck-carriers. They didn't let the Arrows play with as much speed as they're accustomed to, and did a good job of forcing turnovers.
3. Hotchkiss goalie Neilan Johnson wasn't especially busy but did his part, earning a 25-save shutout. His two biggest saves of the game came late in the first period on a Cade Noonan (Needham, Mass.) shorthanded breakaway. Johnson stopped the first shot and the rebound.
4. Two of St. Sebastian's best chances came from forward Jameson Needham (Woburn, Mass.) at the end of the second period. He got a breakaway in tight, beat Johnson to the backhand, but just missed the open net. Then, moments later, Johnson stoned him on another breakaway.
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5. The top line of Ryan Murray, Austin Groves and Jake Harrison controlled play when they were on the ice for Hotchkiss.
6. The fun storyline of this game: Both of these teams were six-win squads last season who beat every expectation throughout the year.
Large School tournament thoughts...
1. No. 8 Choate almost lived up to being a potential spoiler for No. 1 Tabor. After Tabor forward Owen Carter (Warwick, R.I.) scored in the first, Choate forward Easton Kinser tied the game, 1-1, in the third period. Both goalies played great: Choate's Jacob Saldanha had 34 saves, while Tabor's Vinnie D'Urso (Andover, Mass.) notched a whopping 40.
2. What a night for Cushing forward Sebastian Mogull. The Penguins couldn't beat Deerfield star goalie Elliot Lennon, but Mogull found a way in the third and then again in overtime. Lennon finished with 45 saves, while Cushing netminder Mason Raycroft (Wellesley, Mass.) had 25.
3. Andover forward Michael Barrett had a huge night. The '10 scored twice and tallied an assist in the win over St. Paul's. Big Blue defenseman Jack O'Dell had a great showing, too, with a goal and three points. The '09 was one of the biggest breakout Division 1 prospects in prep this winter.
4. That's a good win for Brunswick with forward James Jackson (Darien, Conn.) and defensemen Jack McCullough (Westport, Conn.) scoring the goals, while goalie Zai Ferraro (New Canaan, Conn.) had 29 saves. Upping that scoring will be key against Tabor on Saturday.
PREVIEWING THE TOURNEYS: Elite 8 | Large School | Small School
Small School tournament thoughts...
1. Holderness and Pomfret were both a goal away from replicating the Patriots-Broncos AFC championship game from this season. It was point night for both sides.
2. Winchendon forward Charlie Puglisi is dominating. The Cornell commit registered a hat trick through the first two periods and added an assist in the win. It also wasn't a surprise to see Vermont commit Jackson Smail (Milton, Vt.) assist on all three of those goals.
3. That's a big win for Canterbury. Stopping Winchendon's offense in the semifinals will be a tall task.
4. The Berkshire-Rivers game started earlier, so I caught some of it. The Bears dominated, getting scoring from forwards Carter Johnson, Matt Lacombe (Marlboro, Mass.), Dylan Chernoff, Erion Milla and James McMurray.
