Westboro, MA – In a meeting of local rivals who share a home rink, we dropped by to see what all the fuss was about as the Wachusett Mountaineers took on the Shrewsbury Colonials here at Northstar Ice. Both teams filled up the stands early: Wachusett families were loud and proud on the home side while the Shrewsbury students brought the noise on the other side of the stands. This was also our Director’s first game at the chilly Northstar and it felt like we had been there before having seen so many games on video via LiveBarn. But we digress, on with the recap.
In the first period, both teams were aggressive and looking to put the first score on the board and both would trade chances at either end. It only took four minutes before the seal was broken as Shrewsbury freshman defender Cam Moore delivered a centering feed to the slot where junior forward Christian Thoren buried it on a one-timer: 1-0 Colonials. The Mountaineers were not satisfied with that score and punched right back three minutes later as a near mirror image goal was scored when big junior Matt Bjorkman found senior captain Parker Meyer in the slot for a one-timer: we were squared up at 1-1. From that point on Shrewsbury owned the possession, and the bulk of the chances. They would bury another with less than three minutes remaining as a great outlet pass by Moore sprung junior Shawn Salt to give the Colonials the 2-1 lead after 15 minutes.
In the second period, the scoresheet was on fire as both teams traded goals for the next 15 minutes. It was an early start for Wachusett who came out of the room on a mission 35 seconds in as Bjorkman followed up a live rebound created by fellow junior Jason Flaherty to tie it up at 2-2. Five minutes later would be one of the craziest sequences we’ve ever seen in six years of covering games at MassNZ as three goals were scored in 52 seconds. You read that right, 52 seconds. It all started when a loose puck popped out in front of the Wachusett net and Colby Coghlin was there to punch it home to make it 3-2 Shrewsbury. 20 seconds later came a quick zone entry for the Colonials and a quick shot by senior Andrew Peris that the goaltender missed with his glove to make it 4-2 Shrewsbury. 30 seconds after that, Wachusett would respond as Meyer stole a puck near the Shrewsbury net and got a shot off quickly in the slot to cut the lead in half, to 4-3. From that point on both sides began to settle down and played more tight defense at both ends. It would take another five minutes before the next goal was scored and it happened to tie the game as Wachusett’s Flaherty would add a tally by whipping a shot on net from the top of the circle to make it 4-4. The momentum was clearly siding with the Mountaineers and it would be further bolstered with 53 seconds left in the period and a beauty of a pass by Flaherty landed on the stick of Meyer who walked across the goal mouth to complete the hat trick and give his team a 5-4 edge headed to the room.
In the decisive third period, a funny thing happened: there was barely any goal-scoring! The truth of the matter was that the defenses really tightened up, and not only packed the house around the net, but both teams showed better sticks to breakup chances before they became problems. Both goaltenders handled the chances that came their way and it looked as though the stalemate would best benefit Wachusett, but Shrewsbury had other plans. With just under two minutes to go, the Colonials tied it up by chipping a puck in from the blue line and Peris pounced when the puck popped out into the slot to make it 5 all. The Shrewsbury fans erupted and the momentum was now entirely on their side, which led us to OT…
As is the case with all MIAA OT periods, the teams skated 4-on-4 and it did not take long for a hero to emerge as the Colonials made the most out of a broken play when Ryan Kelley created havoc in the attacking zone and put a shot on net and the rebound popped out to Thoren at the top of the circle. He crept in a couple of steps and wired one top shelf for the walk-off game-winner and he was mobbed by his teammates on the half wall: 6-5 in OT was our final.
Three Stars:
- F Christian Thoren, Shrewsbury
- F Parker Meyer, Wachusett
- F Ryan Kelley, Shrewsbury
