Picard saves day
Goalie stops 41 shots in Spy Ponders’ win
LOWELL — Arlington needed an elite performance from goalie Jack Picard to hold off Hingham, 4-1, yesterday in Game 1 of the Super Eight best- of- three quarterfinal series at Tsongas Arena.
Picard made 40 saves for the fourth-seeded Spy Ponders (19-2-2) and teammate Cameron Ryan had a goal plus three assists in a effort that left Arlington coach John Messuri frustrated and shaking his head.
“I think we played pretty good in the first period and got our butts kicked in the last two,” Messuri said. “Take Pinard away and those last two periods are bad. He won the game for us.”
Game 2 for Arlington and the No. 5 Harbormen (16-5-2) is on Wednesday at Chelmsford Forum in Billerica.
Arlington’s Kevin Oullette and Jeffrey MacDonald each had a goal and an assist in the win.
As their coach attested, the Spy Ponders started strong with 12 of their 18 shots in the opening period. Oullette notched the first goal with 7:12 left in the opening period. Peter Scheschareg doubled the Arlington lead with just 14.3 left in the first.
Hingham turned up the pressure in the middle period, when it amassed 13 shots to a mere two by Arlington. But Picard kept the Harbormen at bay.
Stephen Jacobs finally broke through for Hingham in the third period, knocking home a shot by Jack Hennessey that was blocked. With seven minutes left, the Harbormen trimmed the Arlington lead to 2-1.
Two minutes later, MacDonald unleashed a rocket wrist shot from the top of the zone to pad the Spy Ponders’ lead at 3-1.
The Harbormen pulled goalie Robbie Kornack for an extra skater and Ryan scored into the empty net with :24.9 to go.
“Jack’s a good goalie,” Messuri said, “but I don’t feel like relying on him that much. It’s nice to have a microwave, but I like to cook the meal once in a while. It tastes better that way.”