Andover Boy’s Hockey fell to Cushing 4-0 on Wednesday after failing to score against a skilled Cushing goaltender.
“A lot of credit should be given to Cushing and their goaltender, who played a great game,” said Ross Bendetson ’13. “Ultimately, we weren’t able to rise to the occasion and steal a win on the road.”
Bendetson played a great game in net himself, saving 29 of 33 shots, or 87.9 percent.
Both teams came out strong in the first period. Cushing and Andover had good chances but neither team was able to score, resulting in a 0-0 stalemate in the first half.
“[Cushing’s] goalie ended up making 39 saves for the shutout,” said Assistant Captain Connor Light ’13. “We had a bunch of opportunities but couldn’t capitalize on any of them.”
On a Cushing powerplay, a hard wrist shot from the point made it past a screened Bendetson and went into the top right corner for a Cushing goal 14:46 into the second period.
The Cushing powerplay goal was the only goal of the second period, and Cushing held a 1-0 lead going into the third period.
Another penalty hurt Andover in the third period. Only 32 seconds in, Cushing once again broke through to take a 2-0 lead.
Cushing was able to score on a point shot when Bendetson was screened again.
In the last four minutes of the game, an Andover turnover on a breakout led to a partial Cushing breakaway. The Cushing player capitalized, increasing the lead to 3-0.
With only 31 seconds left in the game, Andover found itself with another power play, but another turnover led to a Cushing breakaway, allowing Cushing to score again.
“[The shorthanded goals] were stupid mistakes that ended up costing us,” said Light. “Cushing was able to take advantage of our mistakes and we couldn’t take advantage of theirs.”
“I think we just didn’t piece a full game together,” said Assistant Captain Seamus O’Neill ’13. “We came out strong in the first and lost a little bit of our roll going into the third. We had a decent amount of chances; we just didn’t string many productive shifts together and it cost us.”
Andover looks to rebound from Wednesday’s loss in its two games this weekend against Tabor and Brooks.
