Andover Boys Hockey came out with two hard-fought victories over strong Brooks and Tabor this past week but could not pull through against NMH.
Andover came out strong in the first period against Tabor and matched its opponent move for move; the period ended in a 0-0 stalemate.
Andover stepped up its offense in the second period. Assisted by David Belluche ’14, Larken Kemp ’13 put Andover on the board first with a shorthanded goal off the post.
Later in the period, Zach Weinger ’15 received a pass from Luca Tresham ’13, skated through three Tabor players and snapped the puck into Tabor’s net.
Michael Lata ’14 scored a goal soon after to give Andover a three-goal lead before the end of the period.
Tabor shook up Andover’s defense in the third period and tallied two goals, but Andover settled down in its defensive zone and took the 3-2 win.
“Tabor has traditionally been a very tough and physical game. Some penalties we took at the end of the game made it interesting, put we had a good kill to win it. It was an excellent win on the road,” said Coach Dean Boylan.
In a tight match against Brooks, Andover struck early. Captain Eddie Ellis ’13 found Tim Driscoll ’12 in front of the net to go up 1-0.
However, Brooks answered back by nailing the puck into the back of the net twice more before the end of the first.
In the second period, Seamus O’Neil ’13 evened the score at two with a goal assisted by both Driscoll and Ellis.
Driscoll found the back of the net once more when he caught a puck at the side of the net and tucked it in. Kemp then deflected a puck in front of the net to put Andover up 4-2.
Despite a three-man advantage for Brooks during part of the third period after Andover committed two penalties and Brooks pulled its goalie, Andover covered well enough in its defensive zone to maintain its lead and come out with the win.
“A couple of our kids were asked to step up due to injuries, and they did. Moving forward, we need to better understand game situations and exercise better discipline,” said Boylan.
NMH scored first at the start of Andover’s game against the Class A powerhouse, but Andover’s Jason Nawrocki ’13 answered with one in the second period after a scrum in front of the net. NMH tallied two more by the end of the period, heading into the third with a 3-1 lead.
In the third period, Ellis scored first on a slot pass from Driscoll and Tommy Shannon ’12 and sliced the deficit to only one goal. Ellis put another one away for Andover on the power play off a shot from the top of the circle. However, NMH came back to find the back of the net once more and emerge victorious 4-3.
Andover will take on Exeter tomorrow in its last regular season game of the year.
