Smooth seas for Clippers
For many teams, falling one game short of a state championship would provide plenty of incentive and motivation heading into the following season.
Falmouth girls hockey coach Erin Hunt chose instead
IN THE SLOT Jim Clark
to enter 2012-13 with a clean slate, and it’s hard to argue with the results of what so far has been an unblemished campaign. Following Wednesday night’s 5-3 road win against a strong Canton squad, the Clippers were sailing along at 11-0-0 heading into last night’s game against Whitman
“I can’t say enough about this group of girls,” Hunt said last week.
The Clippers figured to still be among the elite teams this season after falling to Duxbury in last year’s Division 2 state final at the Garden. But Hunt was taking nothing for granted after an offseason in which there was plenty of change around the program — on and off the ice. (Even the coach’s name is different — the former Erin Blood, who played hockey at Boston College, was married over the summer.)
“The bulk of the team is freshmen and sophomores, but we have good leadership from our senior class,” Hunt said. “We’re having a lot of fun.”
Captain Alexx Good is the leader on defense and one of the three seniors, along with forward Amy Wilson and forward/defenseman Casey Eustis.
“They lead in the locker room and on the ice,” Hunt said. “Obviously we have had some other players who have stepped up their games.”
Wilson (2-11-13) is third on the team in scoring while skating on a solid top line with junior Alexa Scribner (14-6-20) and sophomore Rachel Moore (11-9-20).
Maddie Haberl, Kelly Ferreira and Maggie MacDonald are other sophomores who have added to the depth up front, with classmates Kendall Stouffer and Hannah Ghelfi on defense. Freshman Hannah Callahan is following in the skates of sister Brenna, who captained last year’s team.
One of the key returning pieces is sophomore goalie Maddie Scavotto, whose 0.83 goals-against average is tops in the state.
“I’ve worked very hard with the coaches to move past (last year),” said Hunt, in her fourth season on the Falmouth staff and second as head coach. “It’s a different team and a different group of girls.”
The Clippers showed just how different this season might be when they traveled to Duxbury on Jan. 5 and handed the Dragons their only loss. Scavotto made 26 saves and MacDonald scored in a 1-0 victory. Wednesday’s game at Canton was another battle, a 1-1 tie heading into the third period until Scribner and Moore scored twice each in an eventual 5-3 victory.
Hunt is looking forward to Wednesday’s rematch against Duxbury at the new Falmouth Ice Arena, a state-of-the-art solar-powered facility that opened last June.
“The girls have their own locker room over there, which they never had,” Hunt said of the new building, which also features a larger ice sheet than the old arena that closed last spring to make way for expanded Steamship Authority parking. “We have a fast team, so it does work to our advantage.”
Busy in Brookline
Jake Paul is only a junior in high school, so he wasn’t even born on March 21, 1991. But the performance last week by the Brookline goalie brought back memories of the legend of Ron Tugnutt, who famously made 70 saves for the Nordiques in a 3-3 tie vs. the Bruins that day.
Paul made headlines Monday when he made 71 saves in backboning the Warriors to a 2-0 victory against Bay State Conference rival Wellesley.
“He had 39 saves in the first two periods,” Brookline coach Steve Trundle marveled. “I told our coaching staff, ‘We can’t keep giving up these opportunities; they’re going to score.’ ”
Yet Wellesley kept pouring on the shots, and Paul turned away every one.
“The team in front of him didn’t play that bad,” Trundle said of his defense, which is designed to pack in tight and force shots from the outside. “When you do that, pucks are going to get to the net. But he had 25 unbelievable saves.”
“To be honest, we’ve come to expect that from him. The beauty of it, more than anything? He expects it from himself.”
It has become somewhat of a regular sight for the Warriors. Paul faced another 70 shots, allowing six goals, before getting a well-deserved break late in Wednesday’s loss to Natick. Trundle estimates his team has allowed 720 shots on net in 13 games, and Paul’s save percentage sits at .937.
“That’s good for any goalie,” he said. “Obviously the record’s not there and the goals-against average is high. He’s the backbone, that’s for sure.”
Formerly an assistant under John Maguire at Waltham, Trundle has seen his share of top goalies — from past Dream Teamers Patrick Watson, Ryan Mula and Steve Hopkins with the Hawks, to Brookline’s Jonathan Lipschutz two years ago. But none faced a constant barrage quite like Paul. Not even Tugnutt, whose 70-save night vs. the Bruins was a highlight in an otherwise modest NHL career.
“He has an opportunity to play at the next level,” Trundle said of Paul, “so we’ll see what transpires in the offseason.”
Call for records
Despite reports to the contrary, Paul’s performance is not the secondbest ever nationally, or even a record in Massachusetts. Alex Weiss of West Springfield made 79 saves on Jan. 2, 2010 against Longmeadow, and Hull’s Mark Saville matched Paul with his 71 saves in a 1-0 loss to Latin Academy on Jan. 21, 2002.
Blame that on the lack of quality record-keeping through the years. But the Herald, in conjunction with MassHSHockey.com, is efforting to put together lists of records and all-time top single-game performances for boys and girls hockey.
Do oldtimers remember the amazing games by Ted Cunniff or Ralph DeLeo? Has anyone matched or surpassed Robbie Ftorek’s seven assists in the 1970 title game? While saves are a touchy stat to track, can anyone come close to Weiss, or the amazing 100 saves by Matignon’s Shannon McBride in a game seven years ago?
As we sift through old newspaper accounts, if you believe someone deserves inclusion, please submit info to the e-mail address below.