RED-TIE AFFAIR
Lawrenceville, Hill battle to draw at Citizens Bank Park
PHILADELPHIA — In the 115-year history of Lawrenceville hockey, the Big Red had never played a game quite like the one they played Wednesday afternoon.
With the Philadelphia skyline providing a picturesque backdrop, Lawrenceville and its longtime archrival, the Hill School, skated to a dramatic 2-2 shootout tie at Citizens Bank Park. The Big Red led the game — which was part of the festivities surrounding the 2012 NHL Winter Classic — by two goals until the Rams pulled their goaltender and scored twice in the final minute of regulation.
“The last minute was too bad, but that’s the nature of sports,” Lawrenceville coach Etienne Bilodeau said. “We definitely played a solid game and had solid chances. There were a couple flurries there where we could have gone up 3-0, but that’s how the game played out. At the end of the day, everybody walks out of here a winner. It was just fun to be a part of.”
Though Hill enjoyed the majority of possession in the first period — outshooting Lawrenceville 12-6 — it was the Big Red who broke through first. With six minutes left in the period and the Rams on the power play, for- ward and assistant captain Matt Santucci blocked a Hill shot at the blue line, then buried a breakaway wrist shot past Hill goalie James Nawn.
“I just saw that the guy on the point was going to take a shot, and I tried to get my foot in front of it,” Santucci said. “It bounced off my foot and past him, and I was able to beat him for a two-on-zero with Jess (Norman). I just took a shot and it went by the goalie.”
Just before the first period ended, Lawrenceville’s Nick Minno was given a two-minute minor for boarding. Short-handed to start the second, the Big Red were able to strike again when senior Matt Kasten found Norman sneaking behind the Hill defense for another breakaway goal. The score prompted Hill to pull Nawn for backup goalie Jophrey Gregiore.
“Matt just poked it past the (defense) and I went in and made a move,” Norman said.
Goalie Andrew Lux — who was briefly spelled in the first period by backup Nic Greer — was crucial for the Big Red between the pipes. The Hill School almost pulled within a goal late in the second period, when forward Steven Bayona found the puck on his stick directly in front of the Lawrenceville goal. Lux, however, made a spectacular sprawling save, denying Bayona and keeping the Big Red up two scores.
“He saw the puck well,” Bilodeau said. “We tried to give him perimeter shots, but even when they were in close he was able to make some good saves. His timing was right and we’re proud of the work that both of our goalies did.”
Lawrenceville’s shutout, however, was ruined with just 56 seconds left. Hill’s Dillon Mccourt emerged from a scrum in front of the net and tucked a shot past Lux. With 2.8 seconds to go, Charles Vezina netted the tying goal, sending the Hill fans, all seated in one of the stadium’s midlevel decks, into a frenzy.
“In this pond-hockey type of game, you can get a little offense minded and just try to score,” Norman said. “We didn’t do it in the third and it bit us.”
That sent the game into a penalty shootout. Santucci was the only one of four Big Red shooters to score, while the Rams’ lone scorer was Brian Sachs. Despite the tie, the game was called.
“It was just contract stuff,” Bilodeau said. “We had the ice contracted for two hours.”
While the ending was somewhat anticlimactic, it’s clear that the final scoreline wasn’t quite as important as usual. For these players, just playing outside at the home of the Phillies was reward enough.
“It was everything I expected and more,” Santucci said. “I was here for the Winter Classic the other day and the atmosphere of that was amazing, then to come here and see the support from all the students was a real fun time. It’s like nothing I’ve ever experienced and I’ll definitely remember it for a long time.” Goals: L- Santucci (2), Norman; Hmccourt, Venzina, Sachs. Assists: Lkasten; H – Brizzi, Vezina, Mccourt, Baker. Saves: L-lux 18, Greer 4; H-nawn 5, Gregiore 9. PDS 5, Bishop Eustace 1 PRINCETON — Garret Jensen scored twice and Conner Bitterman, Conrad Denise and Rob Colton added a tally each to help Princeton Day ease to a 5-1 victory over Bishop Eustace Wednesday afternoon.
Goalie Connor Walker made 17 saves for the Panthers, who improved to 102.
Pennington 6, Hopewell Valley 2 PENNINGTON — Tucker Hart and Alexander Thomas split four goals while An- drew Fosina and Dan Speeney added a goal apiece for the Red Raiders (3-4). Andrew Siddal and Tyler Weidman each scored in a losing effort.
Hv-siddal, Weidman; P-hart 2, Thomas 2, Fosina, Speeney. Hvdelisa, Jin; P-savchuk 3, Thomas, Speeney, Pionati, Pibl. HV-N/A; P-littwin 31.
GIRLS PDS 1, Lansdale Catholic 0
LANSDALE, Pa. — Mary Travers scored the Panthers’ only goal, and was assisted by Louise Hutter.