No. 1 seed Cumberland crusies
WOONSOCKET — The No. 8 North Smithfield hockey team believes the only way it can knock off undefeated No. 1 seed Cumberland in the Division II quarterfinals is by being physical with the Clippers and taking them out of their game.
But, there’s a fine line between being aggressive and committing needless penalties that give the prolific Clippers power-play opportunities.
Far too often Friday night at Adelard Arena, the Northmen skated on the wrong side of that line and were made to pay. Cumberland scored a pair of power-play goals late in the game, while Jackson Shevlin had four assists and Aidan Clarey and Jordan Cullion each had a pair of goals in a 7-1 victory Friday night in Game 1 of a three-game series at Adelard Arena.
“The only way we can beat this team is to be physical, get pucks to the net and crash the net,” North Smithfield coach Ben Shatraw said. “Unfortunately when you go down three goals inside the first six or seven minutes of the game, it’s tough to stick to your
game-plan. Tonight, our youth really got to us and our inexperience got to us. That’s what led to our demise. You have to play until the end and there’s another game Sunday.”
“We dominated the whole first period, we were all over them,” Cumberland coach Mark Andreozzi said. “We wanted to put shots on net and attack them, they couldn’t get the puck out of their zone.”
The teams will make the short trip down Route 146 today at 2:50 p.m. to play Game 2 of the series at Rhode Island Sports Center. The start of the contest should be interesting considering what happened in the final five minutes of Friday’s game. With the Clippers up 5-1, tempers flared and seven penalties were called.
Cumberland had a player disqualified for head butting and the Northmen had a player receiver a 10-minute misconduct and another player was told to go to the locker room in the final 10 seconds after hitting a Clipper player well after the whistle. When the final buzzer blew, there were seven players in the penalty box and both teams had three skaters on the ice.
“They’re physical, but they hack and whack,” Andreozzi said. “We have to be mentally tougher and we have to work hard and stick to our game-plan.”
“Hopefully I can handle everything in house and squash right now. I don’t think that’s ever going to happen again,” Shatraw said. “These kids’ emotions ran high, but I can promise none of that will ever happen again. It’s just nonsense and it’s not needed. Do you really want to have an edge when you’re down six goals?”
It took Cullion just 3:55 to put Cumberland ahead after a pass from Shevlin, and Kole Sisson doubled the lead at the five-minute mark when NS goalie Forrest Zuba couldn’t handle a Jake McMillen shot and Sission was there to score. The Clippers went on up 3-0 32 seconds later when Clarey cleaned up a Shevlin rebound.
North Smithfield grabbed a goal back later in the period through sophomore forward Evan Gravel. The end of the first period and the first five minutes of the second period were played evenly and the Northmen had chances to make it a one-goal game. Instead, it was Cumberland that scored next to put the game away when John Mello fed Stephen Ciolino for a goal.
“That’s how quick a hockey game can change,” Shatraw said. “It’s 3-1 and if we make 3-2 the dynamic in the rink is different, especially in the stands. The fans are a big part of a playoff series. When you go down 4-1, how do you get back into a game?”
Cumberland took advantage of North Smithfield’s lack of discipline with a power-play goal at the end of the second period from Cullion. Sean Meers added a power-play goal in the third and he assists on a Clarey’s goal with 2:37 left in regulation.