On the penalty kill, Chris Hocevar ’21 intercepted a pass, took it down the ice, and fired it into the net to make his second goal of the game. This shot put Andover Boys Hockey up 2-1 against Belmont Hill early in the game, culminating in a 6-3 win on Friday.
In the win, Andover was able to gain the lead with an effective offense, according to Matt Veneri ’21.
“We entered the offensive zone really well and we peppered the goalie with shots and produced a lot of offensive chances” said Veneri.
However, Andover wasn’t able to keep the momentum after the win as they lost two games in a row against Dexter Southfield and Kimball Union in a row, putting its record at 13-8-1.
On Saturday, Andover lost 5-2 against Dexter team due to a slow start, according to Head Coach Paul Tortorella ’80 and Hocevar.
“Right from the start we had some bad luck. A bad bounce here, and an iffy penalty there. We were down two goals right away but I was proud of the way we pressured them,” wrote Tortorella in an email to The Phillipian.
Hocevar added, “Besides us missing a lot of players, we simply didn’t have the energy that we had in previous games. The energy didn’t come until later in the second and third period which was tough because if that game went on a bit longer, we could’ve had them.”
On Wednesday, Andover also lost 5-4 to Kimball Union Academy despite leading 4-3 after the second period.
According to Veneri, Andover lost its lead due to a lack of focus and energy.
“In the last period, we weren’t really capitalizing on our chances. I felt proud of how we played because we generated a lot of offense, but we couldn’t put the puck in the back of the net,” said Veneri.
Andover will face Governor’s at home on Friday.
