The boys JV hockey team traveled to the Winchendon School on Wednesday for their last game before going on winter break. Our goal today was to play a more disciplined style of hockey, reduce our penalty minutes, and to play great team defense with few to no odd man rushes against us. We knew going into the game that our opponents would be good so we needed to start the game off well and not get in a hole early. From the first whistle Winchendon came out applying pressure. Goaltender Lawrence von Steuben was rock-solid in the net for us all throughout the game giving us a huge advantage and allowing us to run out to a 3-0 lead halfway through the game.
Matt Shea ’19 would be the only goal scorer in the first period, when he scored at the 10 minute mark off a nice pass from linemate Will Dale ’19. Opening the second period Gabe Moos ’19 scored a beautiful power play goal with assists going to Aidan Philie ’19 and Matt Gardner ’20. Just two minutes later Matt Shea scored his second of the game on a breakaway giving the Big Green a 3-0 lead. Winchendon would score next as they worked hard to get back in the game. We countered in the last minute of the second period with a goal coming from Garrett Moe ’19 of a broken play at center ice. Garrett out-skated the Winchendon defenseman to gain possession of the puck and proceeded to rifle a shot over the shoulder of the goaltender trying to make the stop. With a 4-1 lead heading into the final stanza, Deerfield regrouped in the locker room as the ice was being reconditioned.
Our goal in the third period was to win the period, stay disciplined, and to play our best team hockey of the season against a team that was going to come at us hard for 15 minutes. We won the period by a score of 2-1 giving us a 6-2 win on the road. Will Lodge and Aidan Philie would both score goals this period while Winchendon got their goal very late in the game.
Aidan Philie and Gabe Moos received “game pucks” today for their contributions on offense and for outstanding man-down situation play. As a team, we are beginning to play better as a unit with less individual focus. This will be our main focus when we return to campus in early January. Have a great break everyone and we’ll see you in 2019!!!