Woburn, MA – MassNZ made the trip down to Woburn to O’Brien Arena for a Middlesex League matchup of Top 10 teams in the Power Rankings. The D1 8th-ranked Spy Ponders of Arlington were on the road taking on the hosts: the D2 3rd-ranked Tanners of Woburn. For a noontime start, the building was buzzing early with people lining the glass and the stands largely full. The rink also got something of a facelift with some brand new signage outside: a very spiffy way to showcase the rink’s namesake Ned O’Brien. It was time for a D1 vs D2 grudge match.
In the first period, both teams were looking to establish their game early. It was fast, it was physical and both squads were able to get to the net but the starting netminders turned away every shot that they saw. Ryan Martin for Arlington and Logan Roderick for Woburn were quick in the crease to pounce on loose pucks, there were not many rebounds to speak of. We were impressed by Woburn’s forecheck early and ability to take away time and space from Arlington’s quicker forwards. The Spy Ponders, on the other hand, created a number of turnovers in the neutral zone and established their transition game early and often, which led to most of their opportunities. Despite these efforts, we would end the first period at 0-0.
In the middle frame, we saw Woburn stepping up their defensive game and protecting the net with strong sticks and strong bodies. Their efforts were rewarded just under two minutes into the frame on the power play as junior Jack McEleney made a smart play with a quick shot pass that hit the stick of senior Matt Mahoney and deflected home to make it 1-0 Tanners. As it turned out, that singular score would hold up for the balance of the frame. Both teams were playing heavy hockey and not only finishing checks but using good positioning to muscle the opponents out of Grade A ice. The Tanners were best at this, and even though there were a few scrambling moments, they made some great clearing plays in front of the net to clear out rebounds. After two periods of play: Woburn led 1-0.
In the final stanza, Woburn came out with a purpose and continued to play strong team defense. They were hustling to loose pucks, clearing out the front of the net and winning 1-on-1 battles. This was very much a continuation of what we had seen all game and things were progressing well for the Tanners. That is, until the temperature changed. Woburn took a penalty with 6:20 left in the game and Arlington called a timeout to go over strategy. Just before the two minutes had elapsed, sophomore defenseman Evan Jones found freshman forward JP Messuri near the faceoff dot and he threw a shot on net that trickled over the top of Roderick’s glove: we were tied at 1-1. Just a minute later, they would take the lead. Riding the hot hand, Arlington continued to put on pressure offensively and this time Jones wired a shot from the point and it was tipped home by sophomore Nolan Russell. Between Jones and Russell neither was sure who had actually scored, taking turns pointing at each other, but Russell went through the bench dap line first. Following both goals, Arlington owned the possession and the pace for the final 5 minutes…but it turns out we weren’t done. Woburn pulled their goalie with just over a minute to go and then took a timeout with an offensive zone faceoff to come at the 59-second mark. Then with 29 seconds to go, senior captain Hayden LaPrade threw a shot on net and it was pinballing around in front when it arrived on the stick of junior Finn Murphy who deposited it to tie it up once again. That meant we were headed to 4×4 OT.
In the OT period, Arlington skated the puck into the attacking zone and never took their foot off the gas. Just 55 seconds in, Jones called game as he took a feed from Brian Patterson and threw one on net short side that beat Roderick to give Arlington the 3-2 comeback victory.
Three Stars:
- D Evan Jones, Arlington
- F Finn Murphy, Woburn
- F Nolan Russell, Arlington
