Sports

Andover Goes Ice Cold in Three Game Losing Streak

Andover Boys Hockey struggled against strong opponents, finishing the week 0-3 against Belmont Hill, Dexter and Kimball Union Academy. The week opened against a young but talented Belmont Hill squad. Early in the first period, Belmont Hill took a 3-0 lead, but a goal with a minute to play in the period from Connor Coveney ’11 gave Andover a boost before heading into the locker room. Finding their groove at the end of the period, Andover tried to hold its ground, but was not able to contain the creative Belmont Hill attack. With speed through the neutral zone, Belmont Hill was able to control the pace of the game. After four minutes of better play, the Andover defense was pulled apart once again and the visitors increased their lead to three. Two minutes later, they added another, making it 5-1, and after two more minutes of play, they increased their lead to 6-1. Before the buzzer ended the second period, Belmont Hill netted one more to reach the final score 7-1. In their second game of the week this past Monday, they squared off against another young, fast and creative Dexter team. The Dexter squad headed into the game ranked 9th in the Prep School Hockey Poll and on a ten game undefeated streak. Playing in an Olympic size rink, surrounded by a packed house, Dexter claimed a clear home rink advantage over Andover even before the whistle blew. With eight minutes gone on the clock, Andover found themselves down 3-0 but minimized the lead to two with a power play goal from postgraduate TJ Hickey ’11. Before the clock could expire, Dexter added another goal to make it 4-1 going into the first intermission. With great effort and determination, Andover held off the potent Dexter attack until the closing minutes of the second, when Dexter netted tree unanswered goals to make it 7-1 going into the last intermission. In the third and final period, Dexter secured the win, adding four more goals to their already significant advantage. Austin Heffner ’13 found the back of the net off a pass from Coveney for Andover’s second goal of the game, but Andover could not gain enough momentum to fight back. Andover jumped out to an early 1-0 lead against Kimball Union Academy when Hickey found the back of the net within the first minute of play off of a pass from Eddie Ellis ’13. the Kimball Union Academy offense fired right back, scoring eight goals in the next three periods of play. With time running out in the game Ellis was able to score a goal of his own, but it was not enough to become a game-changer for Andover. After a very hard and tough week, Andover looks to bounce back against another strong opponent this Friday as they take on a talented Governors Academy team.