Captain Eddie Ellis ’13 netted two goals in Andover Boys Hockey’s victory over Brewster on Thursday.
Both Andover and Brewster fought hard right out of the locker room but neither offense was able to score as the period ended in a 0-0 stalemate.
Andover opened the game up in the second period, pouring on offense and scoring three goals, two scored by Ellis.
“We did a solid job of getting the puck behind their defense and then outworking them in the offensive zone,” said Ellis.
The other second period goal was a shorthanded goal from Jason Nawrocki ’13, the result of a penalty kill by Larken Kemp ’13 and Nawrocki.
“I just caught them sleeping on the breakout and took the puck to the net,” said Nawrocki.
JD Cescon ’12 sealed the victory with a goal in the third period to boost Andover’s lead to four. Brewster scored late in the third, but this was not nearly enough to contest with Andover and the game ended 4-1 in Andover’s favor.
Against Choate on Saturday, Andover lacked the same passion and aggressiveness that it had shown against Brewster.
Choate jumped to an early lead with a powerplay goal in the first period, but Andover soon retaliated with another powerplay goal from David Belluche ’14.
Choate scored again late in the first and continued to bombard Andover with goals in the second period, finishing the period up 5-1.
Penalties plagued Andover in the second as the team spent 13 out of the 18 minutes of the period in the penalty box.
“We have to stay out of the box, especially when a team has a strong power play unit,” said Belluche.
Bryan Ackil ’13 scored a goal in the third period, but the deficit was too much to handle and Andover lost 6-2.
Andover improved its play for its match-up at Tilton on Wednesday, but lost 5-4 in a closer heart-breaker.
Andover’s offense dominated the first half of the game, scoring one goal in the first period and two in the beginning of the second period.
“I thought everyone was working for a good period of time, we got a lot of help from everybody and some key shifts by some young guys that really helped keep the offense going,” said Seamus O’Neill ’13.
But Andover’s defense let up in the rest of the second period, allowing Tilton to score two goals and cut Andover’s lead to just one. With an Andover goal from O’Neill in the end of the period, the team still held a strong 4-2 lead heading into the third period.
Andover’s defense completely broke down in the third period as Tilton scored three goals to take the lead for the first time in the game.
Andover could not fight back, and the game ended in a loss for the team.
“We had them on the ropes but we couldn’t hold onto the lead which is extremely disappointing for us as a team, and we need to work on the little things in practice in order to be successful against Exeter on Saturday,” said Zachary Weinger ’15.
