Icemen back to .500 after dominant win vs. Westwood

Sophomore Brendan Tourgee leads the team in scoring through 5 games. (Mike Tureski photo)

After a slower than expected start in the opening week of the season, things are starting to look up for the CHS boys ice hockey team.

Now back to .500 at 2-2-1, the Bulldogs are in the midst of a three-game unbeaten streak as they await a huge rematch with Franklin this coming Saturday at Pirelli Veterans Rink. (The Panthers prevailed in the first matchup 4-1 at Metropolis.)

Canton, meanwhile, is coming off its most convincing win of the season after riding a flurry of late goals to a 5-0 home victory over nonleague Westwood on December 29. With the game still knotted at 0-0 midway through the second period, a hard wrist shot by sophomore Brendan Tourgee broke the scoreless tie, and the floodgates opened from there, with the Bulldogs netting four more over the final 10 minutes of the third — one each by Brian Middleton, Eamon Kelly, Tourgee and Sam Carlino.

Tourgee, who also made a nice pass to help set up Kelly’s goal, is now the overall points leader through the team’s first five games. Fellow sophomore Middleton (3g) has been another bright spot and a key source of production as some of the veterans work to find their footing.

“That whole line of sophomores, with Middleton, Pat Drury and Colin Blake, have played great in their first varsity season,” noted head coach Brian Shuman. “They’ve played limited minutes, but even in our game against Hanover, they hadn’t seen the ice for the whole second period and then we throw them out there at the end and they score a goal. They’ve certainly earned themselves more playing time.”

Another key contributor in the early going has been senior Brennen Pecararo, a club hockey veteran who joined the Bulldogs for his final high school season. Although capable of playing multiple positions, Pecararo has played more lately as a defenseman and it has made a big difference for the club.

“Brennen’s got great vision, can skate the puck, and he’s really settled things down back there,” noted Shuman.

As for their goalie situation, the team faces something of a “good problem” with three capable netminders on the roster in Colin Davis, Carson Eagles and Aiden French. Davis has gotten the start in the last two games and he played well in both, although Shuman said all three Canton goalies would likely be full-time starters on most of the other Hockomock teams.

“Any one of them could be the best goalie in practice in any given day, which makes the decision so hard,” said Shuman. “We do a lot of scrimmaging in practice, and when you have three good goalies it allows you to do so much and it makes practice even better and more game like.”

Now entering the league portion of their schedule, the Bulldogs will look to get off to a good start when they travel to Franklin on Saturday. Then it’s back to Metropolis four a stretch of four straight at home, including two next week against King Philip and Mansfield.

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