Icemen still unbeaten after two big wins

The CHS boys’ varsity hockey team opened league play with a bang last week, topping Davenport Division foes Oliver Ames and Stoughton while extending its unbeaten streak to five (4-0-1) through the quarter mark of the season.

The Bulldogs were paced by junior Mike Denehy, who racked up a team-high four goals, including an impressive hat trick in the team’s 5-3 comeback win over the Black Knights at home on Saturday. Denehy, who has been on fire as of late, also scored the go-ahead goal late in Wednesday’s 3-1 win over OA and has steadily emerged into a legitimate scoring threat as well as the team’s top clutch player.

In fact, head coach Brian Shuman said all seven of Denehy’s goals this season have been “huge” for the team, and that was certainly the case again on Saturday as he helped lead the Bulldogs out of an early 2-0 hole before completely taking over down the stretch to seal the victory.

In what head coach Brian Shuman called “the most exciting game of the year,” the Bulldogs found themselves down two less than five minutes into the contest after Stoughton was able to capitalize on a pair of turnovers in Canton’s defensive zone.

Despite plenty of offensive chances, the Bulldogs remained off the board until late in the period, when Denehy took a “beautiful pass” from senior captain Greg Boyd to cut the deficit in half. Boyd would later tie the score 2-2 halfway through the second period on a powerplay goal, assisted by sophomore Nick O’Connor.

In the third period, the Bulldogs again had a number of scoring chances — they outshot Stoughton by more than 30 for the game — but the Knights’ goalie made several impressive stops.

Finally, with about eight minutes left in the game, Denehy struck again on the powerplay to make it 3-2, assisted by Matt Malloy. The Knights, however, refused to quit, and at the 1:23 mark they scored to make it 3-3.

“At that point, it looked like we were heading for a surprising tie against Stoughton,” Shuman said.

But just seconds after Stoughton tied it, Denehy took the puck from linemates Malloy and Pat Ward off the faceoff and scored to give Canton the lead for good. Malloy then added an empty netter in the waning seconds to complete the victory.

It was a satisfying win for the Bulldogs to be sure, although Shuman said afterwards that his team must improve defensively in order to avoid close calls like that in the future.

“When you’re the defending champs you’re going to get everybody’s A+ game,” he said, “and we have to be ready for that no matter who we play.”

In earlier action last week, Canton got off to a quick start against Oliver Ames and then played a dominant third period to secure a solid 3-1 win.

O’Connor got the scoring started less than 30 seconds into the game on a nice pass from senior captain Mike Oldenburg, who played well in his first game back from an injury.

OA managed to tie the game at one early in the second period, but Canton stormed back in the third, getting goals from Denehy and junior TJ Duggan, who scored his first of the season. Sophomore Matt Lennon, freshman Brian Brooks, and Ward each registered an assist in the victory.

The Bulldogs’ game against Foxboro, originally scheduled for yesterday afternoon, was postponed due to inclement weather. Their next scheduled game is Saturday at home versus King Philip.

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Posted by Jay Turner on Jan 13 2011. Filed under High School, Sports. Both comments and pings are currently closed.