Bulldogs capture Hock Classic

Photo by Tanya Willow, Canton Cable 8

The first win back in January could have been dismissed as a fluke, but after the CHS boys’ ice hockey team thoroughly outplayed Mansfield High in Saturday’s Hockomock Classic before an electric crowd at Metropolis Rink, it is now official — Canton owns the Hornets this year.

To put it further into perspective, Mansfield had already locked up the top seed in the upcoming south sectional tournament long before the opening faceoff and finished the regular season with a league-best 17 wins. Its only blemishes were a 6-6 tie against D1 Bridgewater-Raynham and a pair of one-goal losses, both of which came against the good guys in green and white.

That is not to say this latest victory came easy; the Bulldogs were actually down for a brief stretch at the start of the third period and needed a pair of goals — including the game-winner by senior captain Greg Boyd with under three minutes remaining — to eke out a 3-2 win and secure bragging rights over the Hock’s Kelly-Rex (large school) division.

But the real story in this one could be found in the shot differential, a category Canton dominated by a margin of 27-17 despite facing a team that most consider to be bigger, faster, and more talented.

For CHS head coach Brian Shuman, who had been hard on his players after a lackluster three-game stretch the week before, the key to Saturday’s win was rather clear.

Boyd's game winner (Photo by Tanya Willow)

“We outworked them,” Shuman said after the game. “It’s really that plain and simple. Our guys outworked them, and they did all the little things that we had talked about.”

According to Shuman, just about everyone who took to the ice on Saturday for the Bulldogs played his “strongest hockey of the season,” especially defensemen Justin Rudy and Bryan Gorham and freshman forward Brian Brooks.

More importantly, the team got off to a strong start, outshooting the Hornets in a well-played, scoreless first period. Canton was then rewarded for its patience early in the second, when senior captain Mike Oldenburg took a shot from the blue line and it was deflected by Nick O’Connor to give the hosts a 1-0 lead.

The Bulldogs went on to dominate the entire first half of the period; however, a bad power play killed the momentum, and then two quick penalties gave the Hornets a two-man advantage, which they quickly capitalized on to make it a 1-1 game.

Mansfield would add another less than a minute into the third period, but Canton quickly regained its composure and managed to tie it just a few minutes later, when O’Connor made an acrobatic move to beat a defender and then slid it over to JC Marcone, who drilled a wrist shot past the Hornet goalie to make it 2-2.

Canton then caught a lucky break when an apparent Mansfield goal was called back because a referee had blown the play dead.

Then it was Boyd’s turn to play hero, as he buried home a Matt Malloy rebound with about two and a half minutes remaining to give Canton the lead for good.

Sophomore goalie Rich Nee also figured prominently in the win, making several big stops, including a few late in the game.

Saturday’s victory was the culmination of a solid overall week for the Bulldogs, who also defeated Stoughton 4-2 on Monday and held their own in a 3-0 loss to Bridgewater-Raynham, one of the better teams in the Division 1 south region.

Photo by Tanya Willow

Against the Knights, the forward line of TJ Duggan, Matt Lennon, and Pat Ward led the way, with Duggan in particular having one of his best games with a pair of goals and an assist. Ward and O’Connor also had goals in the win, while junior Nick Naples played well in net.

Against B-R, the Bulldogs kept it a one-goal game until the final period, when the visitors scored a quick pair to squash any hopes of a comeback.

Still, Shuman called the effort a “step in the right direction,” and he seemed to be right as the Bulldogs unleashed a signature performance against Mansfield just three days later.

The defending state champs, at 13-3-2, could finish as high as the two seed with victories in their final two regular season games. One is tonight (February 24) at North Quincy, and the other is tomorrow (February 25) at home versus Melrose, with a 12 noon start.

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