Conal Lynch ’13 netted two goals to propel Andover Boys Hockey into overtime with number-one ranked Kimball Union Academy (KUA), and Captain Eddie Ellis ’13 cinched the 4-3 win for the team with a goal.
The upset victory on Wednesday broke a three-game losing streak for Andover.
Just 28 seconds into OT, Ellis picked up the puck in front of the KUA net from Michael Lata ’14 and took a wrist shot that made it past the goalie and into the back of the net.
“No one in prep would have expected us to upset KUA,” said Bryan Ackil ’14. “The only ones that believed were the guys in our locker room, and we really took it to [KUA] for 54 minutes.”
KUA scored the first two goals of the game, one at the end of the first period and the second just 1:32 into the second period.
After KUA’s two unanswered goals, Alternate Captain Seamus O’Neill ’13 scored short-handed on a breakaway halfway through the second period to cut the lead in half.
Andover and KUA traded goals in the third period, with Andover’s coming from Lynch off an assist from Austin Heffner ’13.
With just 3:56 left, Lynch tied the game up when he stuffed the puck past the KUA goalie for the second time with assists from O’Neill and Heffner.
Ellis completed the victory with his overtime goal.
“We’ve been battling hard in our last few losses, but it just wasn’t paying off,” said Alternate Captain Connor Light ’13. “We came into the game knowing that we were all going to have to leave everything on the ice.”
“We stuck to the game plan,” said Patrick Daly ’15. “Everybody battled hard and did whatever they could to earn us that victory.”
Coming off a tough 3-2 loss against Deerfield last Wednesday, Andover looked to bounce back in its first game of the week against Belmont Hill on Friday.
Belmont Hill dominated from the beginning and scored the only goal of the first period.
Light scored just 6:12 into the second period, assisted by Larken Kemp ’13 and O’Neill, to even the score at 1-1.
Capitalizing on Andover’s turnovers late in the second period, Belmont Hill scored two goals in the last two minutes of the period.
Andover tried to grab the lead in the third period but could not find a way to score.
Belmont Hill scored an empty net goal with 58 seconds left in the game to seal a 4-1 victory.
Hoping to bounce back from the two-game skid, Andover faced Dexter (15-1-5) the next day on Saturday.
After surrendering the first two goals of the game, Andover scored three goals in under three minutes to stage an early comeback.
Ellis, assisted by Daly, led the comeback with a goal in the middle of the first period. Lynch then scored with help from O’Neill and Heffner just 44 seconds later. To finish off Andover’s surge, Lata scored just over a minute after Lynch’s goal with assists from Heffner and Ellis.
Dexter answered by scoring just 41 seconds into the second period and then again on a power play with 1.8 seconds left in the period to take the 4-3 lead heading into the third. Dexter scored twice again in the third period to complete its 6-3 win.
Andover prepares to take on Governor’s Academy on the road this Friday.
