The Big Blue extended their undefeated streak to nine games this past week, routing BB&N 7-1 Saturday afternoon and trouncing KUA 7-1 Wednesday evening. While KUA and BBN may be somewhat lackluster teams, the Andover Boys Varsity Hockey team nevertheless played a week of extremely strong hockey. Over the nine game win streak the Andover squad has outscored its opponents 36-11, and team captain and goalie Cory Schneider ’04 had two shutouts. The Boys in Blue simply keep on winning, and with an outstanding 14-2-2 record for the season, the team is excited to challenge the talented Cushing Penguins. The Boys Hockey team got right to work, scoring goals within the first couple minutes they hit the Nicholas Athletic Center ice Saturday afternoon. With goals coming from Mike Foley ’04, Kyle Kucharski ’05, Stephen Rolecek ’05, and Jed McDonald ’04 the Andover team was able to secure themselves a substantial lead very early in the game, and by the end of the first period they led BB&N 4-0. A mere minute into the second period, Foley scored again, this time shorthanded on a pass from Kucharski. With two goals in only a little over a period of play, Foley was on his way to his hat trick, which he captured a mere three minutes later on a pass from Rolecek and pushed the Big Blue lead to six. With eight minutes left to play in the second period, Matt Ward ’06 replaced Schneider in goal, and while he made several impressive saves, he let one get by him to give BB&N what was to be their only goal in the game. The Big Blue dominated once more in the third, denying BB&N a second goal and scoring one more to give PA a 7-1 lead. Kucharski and Foley with two goals and three goals, respectively were the leading scorers on the day, while Joe Smith ’07 and Steve Russell ’04 had three assists apiece. Kyle Kucharski said afte Wednesday’s game “It always feels good to win by landslide. This was just one of those games where the opponent wasn’t very good and at the same time we were playing extremely well together. I only hope we can play well against Cushing next Wednesday.” From the moment the Big Blue took the Harrison ice Wednesday afternoon against KUA, it became clear they would dominate the game. For the second game in a row Kucharski began the scoring, this time with a little wrist shot that went top shelf with 13:10 left to play in the first. Rolocek followed Kucharski two minutes later with another goal, putting the Andover team up 2-0 going into the second period. Kimball Union came onto the ice in the second period determined to score a goal. With 12:52 left to play in the second, KUA was able to sneak one past Schneider on a scrum in front of the net. Russell responded two minutes later with a wrap around goal of his own, giving Andover back its two-goal lead. Freshman Smith followed Russell with another, and Ben Weiner ’06 scored his first goal of his varsity career with 1:35 left in the second to put the mighty Blue up 5-1 entering the third. Andover dominated the third in the same fashion they had dominated the rest of the game. Right away Foley took it coast to coast, faking out three defenders, and finishing with a deke of the goalie. Artie Mittnacht ’04 followed with his first varsity goal, the game ending a 7-1 blowout.
