Canton Squirts capture Mass. state championship

Canton Youth Hockey’s Squirt A team entered the cauldron of the state youth hockey tournament by winning a series of single-elimination games played throughout the season. Now, they would face the best of the best from across the state. Rather than worry about playing against teams they had never seen before, Canton remained focused on playing their own trademark team hockey game.

A workmanlike performance in the first game had Canton beating Parkway 7-0. The key to the victory was the play of their suffocating defense. The defensive corps of Teddy Shuman, Liam Connolly, Patrick Long, Kevin McCabe, and Liam Doherty — the backbone of this Canton team — completely overwhelmed their opponent. Up next was a very strong Arlington team and Canton used a ferocious offensive attack to stun their opponent into an 8-0 defeat. The scoring line of Joey Ryan, Cam Guerschuny, and Will DiFiore used their brilliant stick handling, shooting, and scoring ability to stake Canton to a lead it would never relinquish. In game three against Reading, Canton turned to their power line of Gavin Thompson, Ryan DeLello, and Tommy DiFiore, who used their north/south game to bludgeon their foe to the tune of a 7-0 victory.

In the semifinal game, Canton squared off against a solid Natick team. Having heard the buzz about this Canton squad, Natick was determined to slow down Canton by using the dreaded zone trap. The problem for them was you can’t trap what you can’t catch. Canton leaned on their speed and passing line of James Howard, Gavin Davis, and Grady Carr to flummox the trap. Canton’s trio set up in the triangle offense and used their will, skill, and adept passing to pepper Natick into submission, 9-1.

For their final test, the Bulldogs drew a familiar opponent in Arlington, and from the opening faceoff you could tell this was going to be different from their first encounter. Getting continually blitzed from all angles, Canton turned to its secret weapon, goalie Matty “Brick Wall” Wright, who made save after brilliant save and kept his team in the game while Canton’s defense finally got their legs under them. Arlington, meanwhile, had its own weapon between the pipes. Prior to the finale, they had flown in a new goalie who had been moonlighting in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League in Canada. Deadlocked in a scoreless game, each team took turns with quality scoring opportunities, but neither goalie would blink. Then finally with just over three minutes to play in regulation, Joey Ryan intercepted an errant pass near center ice and found a streaking Guerschuny, who released a howitzer of a wrist shot that flew by the outstretched waffle of the goaltender.

The crowd erupted, but there still remained time for Arlington to get the equalizer. The last three minutes showed the brilliance of this Canton team. They cycled through the lineup, keeping fresh legs on the ice and frustrating their opponent by keeping the puck deep in the other team’s end. A questionable icing call gave Arlington one last gasp with six seconds left on the clock, but Thompson won the draw back to Shuman, who skated into the corner as the horn sounded.

That corner was the scene of unbridled joy as the entire team celebrated with a classic pig-pile for the ages. As state champions, the Canton boys will now head to the regional championships in Auburn, Maine this weekend to compete against the top teams from throughout New England.

Short URL: https://www.thecantoncitizen.com/?p=52940

Posted by Canton Citizen on Mar 16 2019. Filed under Sports, Youth Sports. Both comments and pings are currently closed.