PSW eliminates Lincoln
Saints overcome 2-goal deficit to down No. 6 Lions
NORTH SMITHFIELD — Perhaps the throngs inside the Rhode Island Sports Center were stunned at the Providence Country Day/St. Raphael/Wheeler Co-op squad’s amazing 3-2 comeback victory over Lincoln late Sunday afternoon, but head coach Kevin Sullivan took a rather “ho-hum” angle on the result.
The Knights had overcome a 2-0 deficit with a late second-period goal, and eventually tied it at 2-2 on Wheeler junior Mike Barone’s controversial, successful penalty shot in early in the third.
Then, with junior defenseman Darien Carney serving a questionable interference call in the box beginning with 2:33 remaining in regulation, Wheeler senior Aidan Beckette converted feeds from PCD junior Bennett Hicks and Saints’ classmate Drew Andella to knock home the game winner and deliver PSW the two-game sweep of its Division II Tournament bestof-three set.
“You know what, if you’ve been watching this team all year like I have, that’s just what we do,” Sullivan stated after his third-seeded club improved to 14-6-0 overall – and clinched a berth in the D-II semifinal series beginning Friday night against No. 2-ranked Ponaganset at Levy Rink.
“This team has such a propensity for drama. I mean, we’ve got more overtime wins and last-second goals than any team I’ve ever coached – ever. They’ve got such a flair for the dramatic, and sometimes – yes – it does make my heart race, but the same thing happened in the first game.
We started slowly but kind of built up and we finished strong. The third period was our best period Friday, and it was again here, too.
“My message to the kids after the second period was ‘Stay out of the box,’ but that didn’t work too well, did it?” he added. “What we did to we switched up our breakout a little bit because they were catching on to what we were doing … and playing with more intensity. If you noticed, we started amping it up at the end of the second period, and we needed that to continue. And so it did.
“The key was intensity. This team, when their backs are against the wall, they respond. Our intensity was way better in that third. If you noticed, as soon as we got the puck in our offensive zone and put pressure on them, they couldn’t get it out. That was critical, too.”
Still, PSW didn’t do itself any favors early on; just 7:53 into the contest, Hicks skated to the penalty box after being found called for interference, and – a scant 36 ticks later – junior center Spencer Smith ripped a shot from atop the left circle at the cage, and it appeared SRA sophomore netminder Jeff Pimental had stopped it.
The puck, however, trickled off his right skate and past the goal line to give the sixth-ranked Lions the 1-0 lead. (It should be noted sophomores Kevin Degnan and Kyle Costa assisted on the tally).
Only 20 seconds after that score, officials whistled Barone for roughing, and Carney blistered a slapper from the left point late in the penalty, but Pimental made an outstanding glove stop. All told, Lincoln had three power-play chances in the initial stanza, though converted just one.
Less than two minutes into the middle session, SRA sophomore Chris DePina found himself in the box for tripping, though nothing came of it. However, with 5:14 left in the period, Smith found Costa by the right post and sent a pass his way. The latter somehow shoved the backhand under Pimental for the 2-0 lead.
Actually, junior winger Colby Acciardo also assisted on Costa’s goal, but – 76 ticks after it – he slid into the box to serve a two-minute tripping minor. Lincoln killed off that penalty in rather stellar fashion, but seven seconds after it ended, PCD senior Ben Kaihler took a pass from Wheeler freshman defenseman Jack Lemire and snapped a wrister through a screen and into the netting behind LHS sophomore Matt Pierce.
The Lions seemed to come out with more fire at the start of the third; in fact, with only 1:12 elapsed, Lincoln garnered its fifth power play when SRA junior Dom Raposa was whistled for roughing. On that man-advantage segment alone, the hosts peppered Pimental with attempts for 85 full seconds, but had nothing to show for it.
Three minutes later, with 10:12 left and during a scrum in front of Pierce, referees called a Lion for an apparent “covering of the puck with a hand,” and awarded PSW the penalty shot. Barone scored to knot it, and the rest was history.
“This is tremendously satisfying – to me, the other coaches and the kids,” Sullivan said. “They worked hard for this.”
**
PCD/SRA/Wheeler Co-op 0 – 1 – 2 – 3
Lincoln 1–1–0 –2
First period: LINC – Spencer Smith (Kevin Degnan, Kyle Costa), pp, 8:29.
Second period: LINC – Costa (Smith, Colby Acciardo) 9:37; PSW – Ben Kaihler (Jack Lemire, Drew Andella) 13:10.
Third period: PSW – Mike Barone (penalty shot) 4:48; PSW – Aidan Beckett (Bennett Hicks, Andella), pp, 13:18. Shots on goal: PSW 6-19-7 – 32, Lincoln 9-5-12 – 26. Goalie saves: Jeff Pimental (PSW) 24, Matt Pierce (LINC) 29.