Two and a half minutes into sudden-death overtime against Loomis Chaffee, Conal Lynch ’13 ripped a slapshot low on the left side to give Andover Boys Hockey its fourth win in a row on Saturday.
The following Wednesday, Andover’s winning streak ended after two goals by Patrick Daly ’15 were not enough for Andover to overcome Deerfield’s three goals.
Andover and Loomis both played strong defense for a majority of the first period, but Loomis struck first in the game and scored 15 minutes into the first period.
“We need to work on starting off games strong,” says Alternate Captain Connor Light ’13. “We can’t keep falling behind early in all of our games.”
The team has been in this situation many times before, having surrendered the first goal in each of its last 10 games.
However, David Belluche ’14 responded and scored a goal two minutes later, assisted by Captain Eddie Ellis ’13 and Alternate Captain Seamus O’Neill ’13.
Great play by both teams and outstanding goaltending kept the game tied, and caused the game to go into OT. Two minutes and 39 seconds after overtime began, Lynch scored the game winner.
Goalkeeper Erik Wurman ’14 posted a .963 save percentage, having stopped all but one of 27 shots.
“Wurman has been playing really well; [he is] keeping us in games,” said Michael Lata ’14. “Pucks just aren’t going in.”
“This was a great game for us to win,” says JB Cline ’14. “Having momentum going into the Deerfield game this week [helped] us a lot.”
Andover Hockey made the long trip to Deerfield on Wednesday afternoon and looked to extend its winning streak.
Daly opened up the game with a goal, assisted by Larken Kemp ’13, just two minutes into the first period.
Deerfield was able to capitalize after the puck took an odd bounce off the referee and gave Deerfield a three on two breakaway. This tied the game up at one.
Less than a minute later, Daly scored again to give Andover the lead after he drove hard to the net and received a great pass from O’Neill.
After Andover turned the puck over the in the neutral zone, a Deerfield player took it and rushed the net. He took a low right shot from the top of the circle to tie the game up 2-2.
Early in the third period, Deerfield scored again when a Deerfield player was left uncovered in the high slot. This gave Deerfield a 3-2 lead.
The Deerfield defense and goalkeeper kept the Andover team from scoring again for the rest of the game.
Andover has a very tough schedule ahead, as its takes on Belmont Hill on Friday and Dexter on Saturday, ranked second and fifth respectively, among New England prep schools.
