O’Connor leads icemen to comeback win in season opener

Junior captain Nick O’Connor and the Canton High boys’ hockey team kicked off the new season with a bang last week, coming all the way back from a 3-1 deficit on the road to sneak past familiar foe Newburyport 4-3 at Graf Rink.

Brian Brooks (Mike Barucci photo)

The two teams have quite a history together, having squared off in back-to-back state championship games, with Newburyport winning the first battle in 2009 and Canton taking the rematch in 2010.

On Friday, it was Newburyport that had the hot hand early but O’Connor who eventually stole the show, as he notched a hat trick in the final two periods to lead the Bulldogs to a season-opening victory. Two of his goals tied the score, and he also assisted on Matt Lennon’s game winner with five minutes to go in the third period.

Even before he scored, O’Connor looked poised to break out. Last year’s team scoring champion, he had several quality looks — including one that went off the post — until finally breaking through about halfway through the second period to even the score at 1.

A few minutes later, Newburyport regained the lead on a power play goal that grazed a defenseman’s stick and sailed over goalie Rich Nee’s shoulder. The hosts would add another one just 46 seconds into the third, giving them a commanding 3-1 advantage.

“At that point it looked like we had dug ourselves into a big hole,” said head coach Brian Shuman. “It was a tough goal to let in just one minute into the period.”

But the Bulldogs were just getting started, and in a span of two minutes they stormed back to tie the game on a pair of power play goals by O’Connor, with assists going to Pat Ward and sophomore defenseman Anthony Francescon.

A highly touted transfer from the River School, Francescon helped preserve the tie with some excellent play during a five-on-three advantage for Newburyport. Fellow defenseman Steve Mullaney also came up big on the penalty kill for the Bulldogs.

Minutes later, Canton would complete the comeback on an excellent hustle play by Lennon, who stormed onto the ice and immediately won a loose puck. He then took it deep into the zone and chipped it to O’Connor, who delivered it back to Lennon for a one-time strike past the Newburyport keeper.

After that the Bulldog defense tightened up, refusing to allow any scoring chances as Canton held on for its first season-opening victory in several years.

This week, the team was due to host a Holiday Hockey Tournament, beginning with a game against Westwood on Tuesday and continuing today (opponent and time TBA).

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Posted by Jay Turner on Dec 28 2011. Filed under High School, Sports. Both comments and pings are currently closed.