Game 3 awaits BPBV
Broncos start strong but East Bay proves too much in 4-1 win
BURRILLVILLE — Most horror movies begin with something positive happening to the protagonist.
That was the case for the No. 3 Burrillville/Ponaganset/ Bay View co-op hockey team in Saturday night's Game 2 of its best-of-three series with No. 2 East Bay. Burrillville senior Maddie McCutcheon opened the scoring just 23 seconds into the game and the Broncos looked on their way to the final.
The final 44:37, however, were a horror movie for the talented Broncos.
East Bay junior forward Katherine Barker, who the Broncos contained so well in Game 1, scored a short-handed goal later in the period to spark the Eagles to a victory. Barker scored a pair of goals, while Alexis Malnerich scored the game-winning goal just 2:17 into the second period of a 4-1 victory at Levy Rink.
“I think scoring so fast might have hurt us, honestly,”
coach Cortney Lacey said. “We won 5-1 the night before and then we come out and score a quick goal, I think the kids might've had it in their brain that this is going to be an easy win like it was on Friday night – it was the complete opposite. We got outplayed and we got out-coached.
“Barrington is a good team and they absolutely took it to us in every aspect of the game.”
The series shifts back to Portsmouth Abbey Monday night at 6 o'clock where one team will advance to the state final, while the other's season ends a win short of reaching Brown's Meehan Auditorium.
While the Eagles have been in the final the last two seasons, the Broncos haven't appeared in the state final since 2017.
It took just 23 seconds for the hosts to grab the lead when Isabelle Besser's shot from the point was saved by Mt. Hope goalie Allie Kopecky, but McCutcheon was on hand to tap in the rebound. The hosts had a chance to double the lead midway through the period when they earned a power play.
Instead, Barker latched on to a loose puck in the neutral zone, skated around a defenseman and ripped a shot past goalie Allie Stockwell, who made 13 saves.
“Barker will hurt you if you make a mistake,” Lacey said. “She is very fast and she hurt us tonight and their goalie was incredible. We know what we're capable of, but we just have to regroup and get ready for Monday. We need to play as a team, which we didn't do. The emotions were high, but we never got our emotions in check to play the type of hockey we needed to play to win.”
Stockwell made a number of crucial saves at the end of the first period and early in the second period to kep her team in the game. East Bay, however, found a way past the sophomore just 2:17 into the second period when Samantha Yee and Mallory Cox created a goal for Malenrich.
The Broncos were the better team at the end of the second period and had numerous chances to tie the game in the third period, but Kopecky made a superb save to stop Besseter five minutes into the period and then she robbed freshman Ashley Mandeville moments before the Eagles put the game away.
With 4:53 left, Peyton Whittet skated into the zone and ripped a shot off Stockwell's glove to increase the lead to two. Barker scored an empty-net goal at 12:38 to make sure the series reached its crescendo.
“Everyone was trying to do everyone's job, they were trying to do everything as an individual,” Lacey said. “We talked to them about going back to the basics and move around and create chances. It just wasn't our night.”
Mello
on
East Bay 1 1
BPBV 1 0
First period – BPBV, Maddie
Besser, Ali Trimble), 0:23; EB, assisted), sh, 7:53.
Second period – EB, Alexis Malnerich
Mallory Cox), 2:17.
Third period – EB, Peyton Whittet ( unassisted), 11:07; EB, Barker ( unassisted), en, 12:38.
Saves – EB, Ellie Kopecky (37 saves); Stockwell (13 saves). 2–4
0–1 McCutcheon ( Isabelle Katherine Barker ( un
( Samantha Yee,
BPBV,
Allie