Despite two highlight goals from Co-Captain Eddie Ellis ’13, Andover Boys Hockey fell 5-3 to third ranked Exeter this past Saturday. Andover bounced back to tie St. Sebastian’s 3-3 in an a thrilling overtime game on Wednesday.
On Saturday, Exeter came out hot and went up 1-0 at the end of the first period by finishing on a scramble off a rebound in front of the net. Exeter put another one away early in the second period to go up 2-0, and tallied yet another goal when an Exeter player slipped a shot past goalie Ross Bendetson ’13 from the left post.
In the second period, Zach Weinger ’15 made a pass to Austin Heffner ’13, who finished on a scramble in front of the net, and put Andover on the board.
Soon after, Ellis came into the zone and sniped the puck on net by hitting an Exeter defender’s stick and going over the goalie’s glove side shoulder to bring the score to 3-2. Andover’s third goal was short- handed at the end of the period, when Ellis won a hard fought puck battle in the neutral zone, finishing on net and tied the game at 3-3 to end the period.
Andover started the third period handicapped due to a 5 on 3, penalty kill. Exeter came out strong and took advantage of its numbers and split Andover to find a man back door, who scored on a top shelf wrist shot to go up 4-3.
With less than a minute to go in the game, and still down by one goal, Tim Driscoll ’12 almost netted a goal to tie the game but was unsuccessful. With seconds remaining, Andover pulled Bendetson, but Exeter put an empty netter away to secure its win, 5-3.
David Belluche ’14 said, “We battled back from going down early and fought hard the entire time. We just couldn’t put away some of our shots. We look forward to playing them [Exeter] again in February.”
Against St. Sebastian’s on Wednesday, Bendetson got the start once again, playing a phenomenal game and coming up with a total of 37 saves. Late in the first, Ellis made a cross ice pass to Driscoll, who netted it top right from the high slot, to end the period up 1 to 0.
Andover went up 2-0 when Driscoll scored again on a breakaway after a great effort defensively by blocking a shot in St. Sebastian’s zone. St. Sebastian’s scored twice on scrambles in front of the net in the last five minutes of the second period to tie the game 2-2.
Andover took the lead 3 to 2 on a power play breakout when Michael Kim ’14 made a pass to Belluche, who passed to Seamus O’Neil ’13. O’Neil then took a slap shot that went in on the low right side of the net. With 10 minutes to go, St. Sebastian’s scored again while Andover was on a penalty kill and tied the game 3-3. The game went into overtime but remained 3-3 at the buzzer. Andover dominated the game overall, but couldn’t seem to capitalize on its opportunities.
Andover will play at Thayer on Friday at 4:30 p.m., and will take on a top ranked Nobles team on Saturday at home, also at 4:30 p.m. Connor Light ’13 said, “Nobles is going to be a big game for us, we’re looking for a win, after losing to them at the Flood Marr tournament.”
