Tough times continued for the Boys Hockey team. The squad lost their second and third games in a row to Tabor and NMH. It was essential that the Big Blue claimed victory against the Hoggers on Wednesday. Going into the third period of their second contest, it seemed as if the Andover squad, holding a 1-0 lead, would be able to pull off a win. The team, however, was unable to finish off the game on a strong note, falling to NMH by a score of 3-1. Despite a lackluster week, goalie Cory Schneider ’04 played exceptionally well and saved twenty-four out of the twenty-six shots. Andover’s record currently stands at 15-6-3, and the Boys in Blue have dropped to the ten spot in the New England Prep Poll. On Friday afternoon, the Andover Boys Hockey stayed on campus to take on the Tabor Seawolves in what turned out to be an incredibly close game. The first period was intense with neither team able to sneak one by the other team’s goalie. Tabor then scored on a power play a mere four minutes into the second period. Andover’s Nick Mazzolini ’03 followed up the Seawolves’ goal with a nice slap shot of this own, which he scored off a nice feed from John Doherty ’03. The game was once again tied. For the rest of the period, the Big Blue let loose fourteen shots but were not able to capitalize on any, and the period ended one-all. The third period (like the first two before it) was very tight, and both teams had ample scoring opportunities. Finally, with only forty-five seconds left to play, the Seawolves snuck one by Schneider and secured the game in their favor. Andover picked up their first heartbreaking loss of the week. At the end of the game, Kyle Kucharski ’05 put it well when he said, “The whole team played well, and the Seawolves got a pair of lucky goals towards the end.” On Wednesday the Ted Harrison rink was packed to the brim full of supporters for both Andover and the Hoggers. In the first period, the game appeared to be very close and both goalies played extremely well. Andover’s big offensive boost came in the last two minutes of the period when the Blue unleashed a hailstorm of shots and absolutely blasted the NMH net minder. But the Big Blue was still unable to put the biscuit in the basket, and the period ended all tied up at zero. In the second period, the score remained close, and both teams were confronted with a surplus of scoring opportunities. Finally with only 3:59 left to play in the second period, Joe Adams ’03 let loose a wrister that flew top shelf and gave Andover the first goal of the game. Following up Adams’ goal was a shot launched by Chris Cahill ’06 that sent the puck bouncing off the crossbar and just nearly missed a goal. The period ended with Andover in the lead. In the third period, the game began to slip out of PA’s control and the Hoggers began to take over. The first two goals were scored with 13:23 and then 11:19 left to play in the game. With only 2:32 remaining, Northfield Mount Hermon scored a third and final goal. While NMH had a player in the box, the Andover team pulled its goalie and gave themselves a two-man advantage. Despite this six on four offensive powerhouse, Andover was unable to score and lost the game by a 3-1 deficit. Both Schneider and the Hogger goalie played excellent games, while coming through to save their teams time and time again. The team needs to win their final two games of the season in order to earn a playoff birth. After this rough week, the team is looking forward to taking down Exeter on Saturday.
