CANTON — Marshfield boys hockey had a shot at redemption and didn’t let that chance slip away Sunday.
Simply 11 days faraway from a 5-1 loss to Xaverian to shut the common season, the No. 15 Rams utilized a defensive strategy to stifle the No. 2 Hawks’ offensive possibilities and safe a 2-0 victory to advance to the Division 1 quarterfinals.
“I assumed we may compete somewhat more durable they usually confirmed that right this moment,” Marshfield head coach Dan Connolly stated of his crew’s bounce-back efficiency. “We earned it. Xaverian’s an outstanding membership, they’d us at our heels and we bent however didn’t break.”
The Rams have been recent off a 3-1 victory over Natick within the opening spherical of the state match and took the ice with vitality that was noticeable to the gang.
“Ever since we beat Natick, a minute after that sport, we have been in our group chats and have been so prepared for this sport,” Marshfield captain Jonathan Sullivan stated. “All of us have been utterly locked in, and we share a spirit collectively.”
The Rams managed the tempo for almost all of the primary interval, peppering Hawks goaltender Connor Kotwicki with a number of sturdy pictures. Xaverian finally began to get some strain, however Rams goalie Sal Digital camera was as much as the problem and the perimeters exited the body with a 0-0 tie.
The second interval noticed Xaverian carry play at the start, however the Rams’ defensive construction annoyed the Hawks and restricted the prime scoring possibilities on Digital camera.
“We actually tried to defend from the inside-out,” Connolly stated. “We did an amazing job of that within the second interval, a few forwards got here up and compelled the pucks again towards the wall versus the online. We’ll simply battle within the corners and compete there.”
Marshfield turned on the jets late within the second interval and received rewarded within the remaining minute when Sullivan fired a dump-in on internet from the blue line, and it deflected off of Kotwicki’s stick and into the online.
“I didn’t anticipate to attain on that one,” Sullivan stated. “I’m simply dashing the puck up and I used to be like, ‘I’m going to throw it as laborious as I can on the web and see what occurs.’ I then look and I see the puck at the back of the online. It’s most likely among the finest moments of my hockey profession.”
This was the extent of the scoring within the center body and Marshfield held a slight 16-15 edge in pictures. Xaverian responded within the third interval with a 12-7 shot benefit and important zone time.
Nevertheless, Digital camera remained as much as the problem, making a number of acrobatic saves, together with one within the remaining minute that he described as “a complete lot of luck.”
“A few fortunate bounces each infrequently actually helped us out,” Digital camera stated. “We knew it was going to be a troublesome one and we knew we needed to come and play. That’s simply what we did.”
Digital camera completed with a 27-save shutout and an empty internet objective from Ben Berian gave the sport its remaining 2-0 rating. Marshfield now awaits No. 7 Pope Francis and senior Brendan Kiziuk stated the crew’s motivation stays very excessive.
“It’s simply the brotherhood that we now have,” Kiziuk stated. “We’ve been taking part in collectively since we have been little and all all through highschool. We go to the identical faculty, reside in the identical city, and we wish to do it for one another as dangerous as we would like it for ourselves.”
