Broncos play well in 3-1 defeat

WARWICK — The scoring in Friday night’s state semifinal series opener against No. 2 Bishop Hendricken followed the same script as the regular season meeting, but the No. 3 Burrillville hockey team felt a lot better about its effort at Thayer Ice Arena than it did about its effort at Levy earlier in the month.

After the Hawks grabbed the lead in the first period, Burrillville senior Ryan Boutiette found Cam DeSante for the game-tying goal. The Broncos had numerous great scoring chances in the second period before Owen Leahy delivered a beautiful pass to Nick DeFelice for the game-winning goal early in the third period of the Hawks’ 3-1 win.

“It felt better today because we carried the play for a lot of the second period and had some unbelievable scoring chances,” Burrillville coach David Farrell said. “I definitely feel like we can take a lot of positives out of this game. Because of the quick turnaround, we’re going to be more accustomed to their speed and physicality when we play [Saturday night].”

Burrillville (5-4-2) received 33 saves from senior goalie Lucas Hundley. The Broncos need a victory Saturday night at 8 o’clock at Levy Rink to send the series back to Thayer Ice Arena Monday night.

Farrell said a big reason the Broncos improved so much from a 6-5 loss to Cumberland last week was the play of junior blue-liners Ben Andersen and Mitch Farrell, who each almost played 30 minutes.