Journey to Brown begins
No. 4 Mount, No. 6 Burrillville, No. 8 Cumberland face tough tests to start state tournament
WOONSOCKET — To no one’s surprise, the top four seeds in the Division I hockey tournament belong to private schools.
And while No. 1 La Salle is the clear favorite after losing just one game during the regular season, there’s plenty of potential for a public school to skate for the state title for the first time since Toll Gate won the state title with a sweep of Bishop Hendricken in 2005.
The four public-school teams – No. 5 Smithfield, No. 6 Burrillville, No. 7 Cranston West and No. 8 Cumberland – have produced impressive wins that give each team hope of pulling off an upset this weekend.
“This is as open as it’s been in a long, long time,” Mount St. Charles coach Dave Belisle said Thursday afternoon. “We did give La Salle their only loss, but if you look at the scores of the games throughout the whole year, the division – top to bottom – has been outstanding. On any given night anyone can beat anyone and anyone can win the state title.
“Obviously La Salle is the favorite because they’ve earned it and they only have the one loss to us. If anyone in our division gets hot at the right time, they can win the state title. It’s a great year for our division.”
In the Blackstone Valley alone, the Broncos and Clippers have put together impressive performances against the private schools. Not only did the Broncos win the series against the Mounties (1-0-1), but they were just a minute away from beating Bishop Hendricken last month.
The Clippers posted their biggest Division I win in program history at the end of December with a 4-2 victory over No. 3 Moses Brown and they also earned a 1-1 tie with the Mounties, although that game only went two periods because of a malfunctioning Zamboni. led by talented junior goalie Hogan Nelson, who shut out the Mounties in an overtime thriller last month.
Smithfield is also deep on the blue line, led by Tyler Varin, Ryan Falls, Logan Clavet and Tyler Piekarski. Offensively, Danny Smith has produced six goals and seven assists, while Jose Paiva scored six goals.
“Smithfield has a very good defense,” Belisle said. “They pack it in, in front of the net and make you earn every shot. They also have a good forecheck. They work tremendously hard. Every shot on net is going to take a lot of effort. They’re a blue-collar team and a mirror image of us, which makes this a good series.”
Game 2 of the series will be at Smithfield Municipal Saturday night at 7:30, while Game 3 would be back in Woonsocket Monday night if the series is tied. Lambert.
Freshman Ryan Deschamps led the team in scoring with 16 points, while Pelletier produced a teamhigh 10 goals in regular-season play.
Senior goalie Matt Heon has been superb in his first season as the varsity starter. Heon stopped 89.8 percent of the shots he faced, while allowing just 2.57 goals a contest.
“We need to be physical, that’s a big part of this,” Farrell said. “We’re not the biggest team in the league by any stretch, but we can be physical. When we are, that gives us an opportunity to be in these games. At the end of the day, we’re going to need good goaltending because they can score. They’re probably the hottest team in the league, so this is going to be a great challenge.”
The Broncos will host Game 2 tomorrow at 4:30 p.m., while a potential Game 3 will be played at a venue at Moses Brown’s discretion. for them. Each line brings something to the table that worries you as a coach.”
The blueprint for a Cumberland victory is obvious. In the five games they didn’t win this season, the Rams scored just seven goals. Clipper freshman goalie Jack Byrne is clearly the key to the series after saving 91.3 percent of the shots he saw with a 2.18 goals against average. Offensively, Malloy delivered seven points and Cabral scored a team-high six goals.
“Other than a few periods here and there, we’ve played with everybody,” Andreozzi said. “The scores are what the scores are and our record is what our record is, but we’re losing one-goal games the majority of the season. That’s more indicative of our inability to finish where we could win some that would’ve been ties. Overall, we’ve shown we can play with anyone.”
The series starts tonight at Cranston Vets at 8:10 and then shifts to Adelard Arena tomorrow night at 9. The Rams will pick a venue if a third game is needed.