With seven minutes left in the third period, Post-Graduate (PG) Brendan Ryan ’17 netted the game-winning goal to propel Andover Boys Hockey to a 3-2 comeback victory over Groton on Tuesday. This win followed a dominant 6-3 win against New Hampton last Friday and boosted the team’s record to 4-1.
Although there were many strong individual efforts, Groton scored four minutes into the period and then again in the first period on a power play.
The team was trailing by two points when it entered the second period. Co-Captain Jonny Edelson ’17 tipped the puck past Groton’s goaltender from a shot by defensemen PG Danny McGrath ’17.
With five minutes left in the second period, Edelson passed the puck to Quinn Doyle ’18 who buried the puck in the net. The team effort allowed Andover to come back and enter the third period tied 2-2.
Co-Captain Jack Cusack ’18 said, “Groton was a great game, we showed great adversity being down 2-0. We didn’t quit, we battled back and scored three unanswered goals to win the game. Although we shouldn’t have started the way we did, we did a great job battling back.”
Andover dominated throughout its game against New Hampton last Friday. Early into the first period, PG Alec Robitaille ’17 threaded a pass to Kevin Kastholm ’17, who cut across the middle and slipped the puck past New Hampton’s goalie.
Andover’s ability to cause a turnover at the blue line led to another goal, where Robitaille scored off a rebound by a shot taken from PG Kyle Lynch ’17.
With time winding down in the first period, Ryan flew through the neutral zone, and sent a pass to Christian Powers ’19, who beat his defenders with speed and tapped the puck into the goal.
Andover entered the second period with a 3-0 lead, but New Hampton scored two quick goals at the beginning of the period. With under a minute remaining in the second period, Mike McGreal ’17 sent Ryan in on a breakaway. Ryan made a move around the goalie to his forehand and buried the puck in the back of the net.
At the start of the third period, Andover led 4-2. Cole Quisenberry ’18 added a fifth goal to the board from an outside shot fired on net.
Quisenberry wrote in an email to The Phillipian, “We went into the game stressing our team’s depth and speed. We knew we had four strong lines of forwards that we could use to our advantage, and that we would be able to out-skate them and tire them out.”
Late in the third, New Hampton pulled its goalie, and Ryan netted his second goal of the night to seal a dominant 6-3 victory over New Hampton.
Andover has shown its depth as a team this season, with eight different scorers contributing to the past two victories.
The team looks for further success at the annual Flood-Marr Tournament this weekend.
