Lamothe, In OT, Leads Groton To 11th Straight Win
Article written by Chris Warner on www.ushr.com
Southborough, Mass. -- A goal from senior center Gabriel Lamothe 21 seconds into OT lifted Groton to a 3-2 come-from-behind win over St. Mark's here today.
The win was Groton's 11th straight. After a Jan. 5th OT loss to Brooks, the Zebras record stood at 3-5-2. Now they are 14-5-2 and tied with Rivers at the top of the Eberhart Division of the ISL, both 7-2-0.
"This is a nice cohesive bunch," said Groton head coach Bill Riley. "They believe in each other."
Today's game was a fun one for the spectators. The pace was fast, the players gave it all they could, and the game was clean. And that's just as things should be with these traditional rivals.
The only goal in the first period came from senior RW Drew Burke, with his team on a 5 vs. 3. Senior Will Torriani and junior Luke Beckstein got assists.
In the second, there was no scoring. Both teams played strong defense, played hard, and kept the goalies from facing too many shots.
In the third, at the 2:17 mark, junior Danny Ciccarello tied it up at 1-1 for St. Marks, with a goal from in tight, between the crease on the right faceoff circle. Soph Brendan Gibbons got the helper.
Shortly after, 6'3" Groton sophomore goalie Tristan Mecenas stopped the Lions' Gibbons on a partial breakaway down the left side. Seconds later, Mecenas stoned junior Danny Ciccarello on a point-blank shot from the slot.
Midway through the period, with 7:31 remaining, St. Mark's took a 2-1 lead when senior Connor Berry whacked away at a rebound until he got it past Mecenas.
Groton called a time out. "We were scrambling," Riley said. "Things weren't going our way. They were taking it to us. I just told them, 'We can do this.' I also told them that we had scored over 50 goals on the season and now we had seven minutes to get just one. They settled down and got to work."
It looked like Groton tied it up minutes later as Burke poked the puck over the goal line. While the players celebrated, the officials gathered and waived it off, saying the puck crossed the line after the whistle.
Finally, with 2:32 left, Groton's Beckstein scored from a scramble in front to tie the game at 2-1.
On to OT, and it didn't take long to end it as Groton's top line center, junior Gabriel Lamothe got the puck from Burke, stepped around a defender and, cutting crossways across the offensive zone, unleashed a high wrister that cleanly beat St. Mark's senior goaltender Alex Cardonick.
"After they called timeout after we went ahead 2-1, said St. Mark's head coach Carl Corazzini, "they played well down the stretch. We played well for 49 minutes."
"We have to be agressive for the whole game," Corazzini added.
Back
Southborough, Mass. -- A goal from senior center Gabriel Lamothe 21 seconds into OT lifted Groton to a 3-2 come-from-behind win over St. Mark's here today.
The win was Groton's 11th straight. After a Jan. 5th OT loss to Brooks, the Zebras record stood at 3-5-2. Now they are 14-5-2 and tied with Rivers at the top of the Eberhart Division of the ISL, both 7-2-0.
"This is a nice cohesive bunch," said Groton head coach Bill Riley. "They believe in each other."
Today's game was a fun one for the spectators. The pace was fast, the players gave it all they could, and the game was clean. And that's just as things should be with these traditional rivals.
The only goal in the first period came from senior RW Drew Burke, with his team on a 5 vs. 3. Senior Will Torriani and junior Luke Beckstein got assists.
In the second, there was no scoring. Both teams played strong defense, played hard, and kept the goalies from facing too many shots.
In the third, at the 2:17 mark, junior Danny Ciccarello tied it up at 1-1 for St. Marks, with a goal from in tight, between the crease on the right faceoff circle. Soph Brendan Gibbons got the helper.
Shortly after, 6'3" Groton sophomore goalie Tristan Mecenas stopped the Lions' Gibbons on a partial breakaway down the left side. Seconds later, Mecenas stoned junior Danny Ciccarello on a point-blank shot from the slot.
Midway through the period, with 7:31 remaining, St. Mark's took a 2-1 lead when senior Connor Berry whacked away at a rebound until he got it past Mecenas.
Groton called a time out. "We were scrambling," Riley said. "Things weren't going our way. They were taking it to us. I just told them, 'We can do this.' I also told them that we had scored over 50 goals on the season and now we had seven minutes to get just one. They settled down and got to work."
It looked like Groton tied it up minutes later as Burke poked the puck over the goal line. While the players celebrated, the officials gathered and waived it off, saying the puck crossed the line after the whistle.
Finally, with 2:32 left, Groton's Beckstein scored from a scramble in front to tie the game at 2-1.
On to OT, and it didn't take long to end it as Groton's top line center, junior Gabriel Lamothe got the puck from Burke, stepped around a defender and, cutting crossways across the offensive zone, unleashed a high wrister that cleanly beat St. Mark's senior goaltender Alex Cardonick.
"After they called timeout after we went ahead 2-1, said St. Mark's head coach Carl Corazzini, "they played well down the stretch. We played well for 49 minutes."
"We have to be agressive for the whole game," Corazzini added.
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