Boys’ hockey team struggles in loss to Lincoln-Sudbury

After finding its offense and then some in a recent two-game stretch against Foxboro and Attleboro, the CHS boys’ ice hockey team traveled to Marlboro last week for its annual showdown with Lincoln-Sudbury and came out surprisingly flat, falling 3-1 in frustrating fashion at the New England Sports Center.

Freshman Brian Brooks scoring the game-tying goal against Hanover (Mike Barucci photo)

It was the fourth time in as many seasons that Canton has come up short against the Warriors —  a team that Bulldogs’ coach Brian Shuman described as solid defensively and “very well coached.”

He said the L-S players also seemed to “want it more than [Canton] did,” especially throughout the first period as the Warriors’ built an early two-goal lead.

“It was probably one of the most disappointing efforts of the entire season,” said Shuman of the Lincoln-Sudbury game, while noting that his players looked “out of sorts” from the opening faceoff.

The Bulldogs did manage to make it a one-goal game later in the first on a power play goal by Nick O’Connor, who took a pass from Mike Denehy and scored to make it 2-1. But that was the closest they would get as the Warriors tacked on another goal in the second period and played well enough in the third to preserve the win.

Of course, under normal circumstances, the Bulldogs would take a loss like that and use it as motivation against a lesser opponent such as Foxboro, whom they played the following night —  just five days after crushing them 11-0 at Metropolis Rink.

Instead, the boys played tentatively, and the result was an unexpectedly close game that wasn’t decided until late in the final period, when JC Marcone took a nice pass from O’Connor and scored to give Canton a 2-1 win.

Earlier in the game, senior captain Greg Boyd had scored to make it 1-0, but a defensive breakdown in the third period led to a game-tying Foxboro breakaway goal, and the Warriors just missed another scoring chance later in the period that would have given them the lead.

The Bulldogs also squandered a few scoring chances of their own; however, despite coming out of there with a victory, Shuman said the bigger issue was the fact that they “played like a team without any confidence.”

He had similar concerns when the team traveled to Hanover on Saturday, and it wasn’t until about halfway through the second period —  after Hanover had taken a 1-0 lead —  that the team really started to click for the first time all week.

The Bulldogs then went on to dominate the third, ultimately salvaging a tie after freshman Brian Brooks took a nice pass from Marcone and beat the defender wide to make it a 1-1 final.

Canton finished the week with one win, one loss, and one tie.

“It was a tough week overall,” Shuman said. “You definitely saw a team that was lacking some of its confidence after that tough loss to Lincoln-Sudbury.”

Nevertheless, the Bulldogs remain in very good position to snag a high seed in the tournament with its current overall record of 11-2-2. On Saturday, they will battle Mansfield for Hockomock supremacy as the two divisional leaders square off in the inaugural Hockomock Classic Cup.

They then wrap up the regular season over February vacation with back to back games next Thursday and Friday against North Quincy and Melrose.

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Posted by Jay Turner on Feb 16 2011. Filed under High School, Sports. Both comments and pings are currently closed.