Will Gray ’10 scored two goals against his former team, Belmont Hill, to lead Andover Boys Hockey to a 5-2 win on Friday night. The win was followed up with two losses against Drexel and Kimball Union later in the week. On Friday, the team traveled to Belmont Hill, prepared to face a talented team. Eddie Ellis ’13 gave Andover an early lead by banging home a rebound in the first period, and later in the period, Gray scored on an assist by Captain Brian Safstrom’10. Belmont Hill cut Andover’s lead to one with a goal in the second period, but Andover continued its relentless offensive attack in the third period. Only one minute into the period, Trevor Braun ’10 scored on a breakaway. to Gray said, “Trevor’s goal really sparked the offense after more than a full period without a goal.” Safstrom assisted a goal for Gray seven minutes later on a powerplay. A shorthanded Belmont Hill goal made the score 4-2, and Garnet Hathaway ’10 capped off the victory with an empty net goal. It was only fitting that Gray had such an astounding game in front of his former school. “The game meant a lot to me personally having graduated from Belmont Hill, but more importantly it was a huge win for us against a great team,” said Gray. “It was weird getting dressed in the visitors locker room for the first time, but it was great to see a lot of familiar faces and play against a lot of my old friends.” Eric Yoon ’10 played a great game, stopping all but two of the opposition’s shots. He said, “It feels great to be contributing so much to the team. I try my best to bring my ‘A’ game for every single game. If my teammates score goals and I stop pucks, we win games.” Yoon was well-protected all game by a solid effort from Andover’s defensemen, most notably Redmond Colson ’10 and Bennett Carroccio ’10. The next day against Dexter, Andover couldn’t manage to stop Dexter’s offense. Safstrom scored very early in the game, and Gray scored in the middle of the second period. Both goals were off of rebounds. Going into the third period, Dexter had a one goal lead, 3-2. Dexter scored a goal in the beginning of the third after a very long scramble in front of the net. Hathaway scored with three minutes left in the game with a nice move to his backhand. Dexter responded with another goal a minute later and a final goal on an empty net at the end of the game. “We didn’t really know what to expect with Dexter, and they came out with a lot of intensity against us,” said Gray. “It was a very disappointing loss, but we will learn from our mistakes.” Andover lost the game, 3-6. On Wednesday, Andover set out to face Kimball Union, who was 18-5-2 going into the game. Colson scored the lone goal on a one-timer assisted by Keaton Cashin ’10. Kimball scored multiple goals in the third period, and the final score was 5-1. Said Ellis, “We simply didn’t give enough effort in the third period to have a chance at winning the game.” This week, Andover hockey plays two consecutive home games against Governor’s on Friday, and Cushing on Wednesday.
