With a hat-trick by Co-Captain Connor Fitzpatrick ’22, Boys Hockey started the game with a bang, earning an early 3-0 lead. Both Joey Zheng ’23 and Shane Spinale ’22 scored their first goals of the season, which further added to the lead and propelled the team to secure a 9-7 win away at Tilton, moving its record to 8-4.
Coach Tedd Parker noted how the team began strongly but still needed to find its rhythm after a long break since its last game. He also believed that the defense was able to shut down scoring opportunities in vital moments, both contributing to the victory.
“We started off well, going up 3-0. Given it has been over three weeks since our last game, it will take some time to find our rhythm in all three zones. We had a nice power-play goal. We blocked shots at key points in the game. We held on to win against a hard-working team. Our team defense is a point of emphasis going forward,” wrote Parker in an email to The Phillipian.
According to Alex LoGuercio ’24, although the team scored many goals and moved the puck well offensively, the defense was unorganized at some points during the game.
LoGuercio wrote in an email to The Phillipian, “We scored a lot, and kept a positive attitude. Our defense lacked discipline and got caught running around when we were playing. We moved the puck well and found the open man in the game. We also hit the other team a lot on offense.”
Bobby Corkery ’22 shared a similar sentiment to LoGuercio as he believes the team will seek to improve its defensive play for the upcoming weeks while continuing to capitalize on offensive opportunities.
“We need to work on our overall team defense and make it harder for the opponent to get out of their zone. There are always things we can work on to improve our play. Everything about our offense went well with great breakouts leading to key scoring opportunities. On defense we were blocking shots and mainly kept them to the outside,” wrote Corkery in an email to The Phillipian.
“We played hard till the end and we were able to finish most of our chances. There was definitely no shortage of scoring. When the game was over all of our coaches were happy with our effort through all three periods,” Corkery continued.
Boys Hockey hopes to win back-to-back games for only the second time this season in its upcoming home game against St. Paul’s on Friday.
