King’s Varsity Hockey team pulled out two exciting victories during their annual weekend road trip to RI, held January on 15-16.
King’s Varsity Hockey team pulled out two exciting victories during their annual weekend road trip to RI, held January on 15-16.
King 6, St. George’s (JV) 4
In the first period, Troy Lynch ’12 stepped out from behind the net and found Connor Sullivan ’11, who one-timed it past the St. George’s goalie to give King a 1-0 lead. A few minutes later, St. George’s tied the game. Later in the period, Lynch put one between the goalie’s legs to give King a 2-1 lead.
Sullivan and Mitch Staples ’10 each scored goals in the second period to give King a 4-1 lead. With strong defensive play from Jay Murray ’11, Cary Sullivan ’11, Connor Sullivan ’11, and Tyler LaVecchia ’13, King held St. George’s at bay. St. George’s scored late in the period to cut the deficit 4-2.
The third period brought end-to-end action, with Jack Mehan ’11 making a number of great saves early on. With the game tied at 4, Staples slid the puck past the St. George’s goalie to give King a 5-4 lead. Lynch put the icing on the cake with less than a minute to go, scoring his second goal of the game to give King the 6-4 win.
Goalie Mehan finished the game with 26 saves.
King 4, Portsmouth Abbey 3
This game began at a high pace and tempo. Portsmouth got on the board first with a fluke goal. Portsmouth’s penalty put King on its first powerplay of the game. With very good puck movement on the powerplay, Troy Lynch ’12 took a slapshot from the point, which deflected off the goalie and over his head, where Mitch Staples ’10 was waiting on the doorstep to bang in the rebound, tying the game 1-1.
With many huge saves from Jack Mehan ’11 late in the first, Portsmouth found a way to sneak one by, making it 2-1. Once again with great puck movement and shots on the powerplay, Staples picked up a rebound and found the back of the net to tie the game at 2-2 after one.
Non-stop action filled period 2, with both goalies making great saves. Finally, Portsmouth capitalized on a scoring opportunity to make the game 3-2 after two periods.
In the third period, Connor Sullivan ’11 ripped a wrist shot under the arm of the Portsmouth goalie, tying the game at 3. With a great defensive battle on both sides, the game kept its back-and-forth pace. More big saves from Mehan kept the game knotted at 3. With 4:30 left in the game, Patrick Sullivan ’11 won the race to the corner for the puck and made a spectacular pass to Lynch, who snapped it past the goalie to give King a 4-3 lead. King kept everything simple while getting pucks deep and keeping all play to the outside to maintain their lead for the rest of the game.
