Sports

Braun ’10 Nets Two Goals Against Thayer in Lone Win of Week

With the score knotted at two in the third period in Friday’s game against Thayer, Andover’s Trevor Braun ’10 took a pass just after a face-off and fired the puck past the opposing goalie to give Andover the lead. This was Braun’s second goal of the game, and the team went on to win 3-2. Andover started the game off well with a first period goal from Keith MacDonald ’10. A long shot from Garnet Hathaway ’10 led to a rebounded shot by MacDonald right through the five hole. A similar situation came up later in the period, when a scramble in front of the net ended with a tip in by Braun. Braun said, “I was fortunate to have the puck pop out right to my stick. I just had to put it in the empty net.” Thayer took a turn at scoring in the following period. Andover’s momentum was broken by Thayer’s first goal to bring the score to 2-1. It wasn’t until the game was tied at 2-2 that Andover started to stiffen up. “Thayer did a great job of keeping it simple and staying physical. They were a very chippy team,” said Braun. After intermission, the team came onto the ice refusing to accept defeat. Braun took the puck after a face off and took the lead with his second goal of the game. Andover was able to hold off Thayer’s offense until the end of regulation and seal the victory. “With help from goalie Eric Yoon [’11], the defense did a great job of holding off Thayer and winning the game,” said Braun. The next day, Andover played Nobles and Greenough. Nobles took the lead in the first period with nine minutes left, on a one timer right in front of the net. Andover’s first and last goal of the day came next from Eddie Ellis ’13. Tom Shannon ’12 and Braun assisted the goal, which ended in a snipe from the side by Ellis. Nobles scored two more goals in the second period, and another two came in the third. Andover could not penetrate the opposing defense nor stop their offense. Ellis said, “We took way too many penalties. Aside from that, I thought we played fairly well. ” Braun said, “This game basically reiterated what we must not do if we want to be considered a great team. Beating average teams is great but we need to buckle down and win against some good competition coming up.” On Wednesday against Winchendon, the team struggled once again, coming away with a 1-4 loss. Winchendon took the lead after 15 minutes of back and forth play, by tapping in a deflected slapshot. Andover had plenty of near-goal opportunities in the first period, but none of them ended in a clear shot on net. In the second period, Winchendon continued its attack with two goals on backhanded shots. With 4:30 left in the period, Will Gray ’10 finally put Andover on the board with a snapshot off a rebound. Winchendon responded two minutes later with a breakaway goal and never looked back.Although Andover tightened up its defense in the third period, the team was unable to score another goal. Andover will try to rebound from two tough losses when the team faces Loomis Saturday.