It was a Friday night matchup of ISL Keller division foes. The Bulldogs of Noble and Greenough hosted the Spartans of Lawrence Academy. Kolin Belliveau started between the pipes for Lawrence, while Tyler Bloomfield was in the crease for Nobles. The game started with some heavy hits and extreme physicality. Belliveau had to make some big saves early as Nobles carried the play through the first half of the opening stanza. Lawrence broke the scoreless tie with a power play goal as Senior forward Spencer Hirsch won a clean faceoff to Junior defenseman Shawn Leary, who rifled a shot top corner at 11:15 into the first. Nobles struck back to even the game when Junior forward Ted MacAusland went short-side on an assist by Junior forward Ethan Cox. Nobles kept pressing and scored again with 2:47 remaining in the period when Andrew Higgins, a Junior forward, buried a rebound for his first career goal on a rebound shot by Freshman and late 2007 Ben Levering. A secondary assist went to Ted MacAusland. Nobles led after the first 2-1.
Just 2:36 into the second frame, Nobles went up 3-1 on a beautiful goal by Ted MacAusland off a nice feed from Sophomore 2007 forward Billy MacAusland and Junior forward Kyle O’Leary. Lawrence carried the play for the remainder of the period. Leary struck again on a similar goal with a hard quick snap shot assisted by Senior forward Gianpaolo Giamartino 7:49 into the period, making it 3-2 Nobles. A little over a minute and a half later at 8:24 in, Brendan Hirsh found the back of the net with an assist to Spencer Hirsch to make it a 3-3 tie. Lawrence made it 4-3 when Junior forward Laz Giardina came down the right side and went short-side glove with 5:35 to go. The frame ended with Lawrence on top 4-3.
As much as the second period favored the Spartans, the third was the Bulldogs’ time to shine. Junior forward Matthew Welch made it a 4-4 tie 8:45 into the period; assists went to Sophomore forward Billy MacAusland and Cox. The game was deadlocked at a 4-4 tie until Nobles Junior Dennis Davidson made no mistake, finding the back of the net with a heavy one-timer off a rebound to give Nobles the lead with 5:18 to go. Assisting on the goal were Ted MacAusland and O’Leary. Nobles held the lead and prevailed with a 5-4 win.
Nobles at 8-4-2 play another huge Saturday at #10 Andover Academy, while Lawrence, who stands at 10-3, will play Governors that same day to try and stay in the Elite 8 hunt.
Photo Credit: Dan Hickling
Three Stars
First: Ted MacAusland (Noble and Greenough)
Second: Shawn Leary (Lawrence Academy)
Third: Dennis Davidson (Noble and Greenough)
