Northmen shock Cranston West North Smithfield sophomores deliver in final two periods
BURRILLVILLE — After watching his team give up a pair of unanswered goals in the opening period of Thursday’s contest against Cranston West, North Smithfield hockey coach Ben Shatraw explained to his young squad how the Northmen claimed the Division II title in 2015 and 2016.
“We talked about those two titles and how back- checking won us those championships and that seemed to flip the script of this entire game,” Shatraw said. “We had a lot to change. We iced the puck too much in the first period and I told our defensemen to settle down and make the simple play. We started blocking shots and getting there quickly. We overcame adversity.”
Not since the days of Matt Pasquariello, Matt Barrette
and Kyle Evangelista have the Northmen played they way they played in the final two periods of Thursday’s Burrillville Winter Classic opener against the Falcons at Levy Rink. The Northmen dominated the second period and scored a pair of goals to make it a one-period contest.
After being sucker punched by a Theodore Spiridakos goal just 43 seconds into the final period, the Northmen responded with goals from Robert Martufi and Evan Gravel to skate away with a satisfying 4-3 win over the frustrated Falcons.
“This game is going to be fantastic for us going forward,” Shatraw said. “We play in this tournament every year and we usually get momentum going into the rest of the season. Obviously coming here and winning a game at this tournament for the first time in three years is big for us. I kept telling the guys after we scored twice against Cumberland that we’re getting there. We’re starting to get some steam.”
North Smithfield (24, 1-4 Division II) scored just four goals in its first four Division II games, but the Northmen’s talented group of sophomores came through with three of the team’s four goals. Gravel and fellow sophomore Luke Pasquariello delivered a goal and an assist, while junior defenseman Jackson Lynch added a pair of assists.
Cranston West (4-2, 4-1 Division II) outscored its last four opponents 30-3 and it looked like the Falcons were going to make the Northmen their latest victim in the opening period. Cam Koretsky made a perfect cross-ice pass to Dylan Demers for the game’s opening goal at 5:03 of the first period and then Demers found Josh Zambarano for a goal with eight seconds left in the opening period.
North Smithfield sophomore goalie Forrest Zuba only allowed one more goal over the final 30 minutes to finish the evening with 25 saves.
After the Northmen made a few adjustments in between the first and second periods, they dominated long stretches of the rest of the game. The Northmen grabbed a goal at 1:44 of the second period when Gravel fed Pasquariello for a power-play goal.
Forward Cameron Lataille tied the game with 36 seconds left in the period when Lynch played a perfect pass from inside his own zone off the glass to spring the junior. Lataille easily put his shot past reserve goalie Matt Corrente.
“That’s another thing that we work on all the time in practice,” Shatraw said of Lynch’s pass. “One of the problems we’ve had this season is our defensemen weren’t taking their time with the puck, they were just getting rid of the puck and making a bad pass. We work on that countless times during the week and it’s starting to show.”
Spiridakos scored an unassisted goal 43 seconds into the third period, but Martufi tied the game again with a power-play goal after a nice pass from Pasquariello at 4:51. The Northmen took the lead for good when Lynch found Gravel skating in on goal and the sophomore slipped a shot past Corrente’s left pad.
The Northmen, who killed off a penalty for the final 1:47, can earn a spot in the title game Sunday night with a victory over rival Burrillville tomorrow night at 8. The last time the Northmen defeated the Broncos was in the 2015 Winter Classic and both teams went on to win division titles that season.
“I would love to play this way again [on Saturday] and these kids are going to be ready to go,” Shatraw said. “We’re going to give them the day off and they’re going to come back Saturday ready to do it because they want it.”
The Falcons will need plenty of help to earn a spot in Sunday’s title game, and the first step is they need to beat Burrillville today at 3. North Smithfield 0 2 2–4 Cranston West 2 0 1–3
First period – CW, Dylan Demers (Cameron Koretsky), 5:03; CW, Josh Zambarano (Demers), 14:52.
Second period – NS, Luke Pasquariello (Evan Gravel, Garet Reilly), pp, 1:44; NS, Cameron Lataille (Jackson Lynch), 14:24. Third period – CW, Theodore Spiridakos (unassisted), 0:43; NS, Robert Martufi (Pasquariello), pp, 4:51; NS, Gravel (Lynch), 11:12.