The boys JV hockey team began their 2023 year finding themselves on the road against an always strong Salisbury team. Prior to the Christmas holiday break the team had started their season with 4 wins and a tie. Salisbury would be their toughest challenge to date.
The first period was a 0-0, back and forth, close-checking contests and both teams had some good chances to get on the scoreboard early. Deerfield goalie Nick Gerard was solid in the net for the Doors early on and provided the opportunity to his team to stay in the game. After the 1st intermission the Salisbury team came back to play with a greater compete-level than our visiting Doors and result was a 2-0 advantage for them halfway through the second period. Trailing by two goals for the first time all season and getting out-played physically by our hosts proved to be ample motivation to turn things around and raise our level of play.
Matteo Alvarez would get our team on the board with seven minutes remaining in the second period. The line of Alvarez, Welch and Brozek had their best outing of the season and sparked the team back into playing up their capacity on the day. Minutes later the Sotirhos, Rockefeller, Navab line really got their motors running and played dominantly creating multiple scoring chances. They were rewarded for their hustle when Felix banged home a rebound goal, tying the score at 2-2.
At the start of the third period the Deerfield team controlled the pace and was outshooting their hosts by a wide margin. Playing on a line with Sohtiros and Navab, Cooper Brozek made a nice pass to Sotirhos in the slot who banged home the game-winner with less than 3 minutes remaining in the game. Jack Welch would score an empty net goal and Alex Sotirhos would close the scoring on another empty net goal with one minute remaking in the game. The final score was Deerfield 5 – Salisbury 2 with The Big Green scoring 5 unanswered goals.
Every member of the team contributed to this team win! Tripp Woytowicz, Rob Callender, Carson Belaire, Alistair Hunt and Ben Gisonni play with poise and intensity. We got valuable minutes from the line of Blake Donnellan, EvanGalli, and Griffin Mariani as they played with grit and competed at a high-level.
Game puck went to Carson Belaire for his outstanding play today.
Next up for the team is Andover on Saturday. They will be another strong team and the boys will need a good week of preparation to be ready for another game on the road against a tough opponent.