The St. Andrew’s College Hockey Tournament is one of the biggest weekends of the season for the Junior Team. This season was extra special, because the Huskies were two-time defending champions of this tournament. The players knew they needed a strong start right away in their first game against Seacoast Prep.
Junior team action at the 2018 Northwood Invitational Tournament.
Before the game, Drew Rose (Defense, 2019) he said “we need to build off last weekend, and that starts in the first game. It’s important to jump on them early and score the first goal.” They did just that. Sam DiBitetto (Forward, 2018) scored early in the game. While other goals came from Tommy Bannister (Forward, 2020), Will Arquiett (Forward, 2019), and two goals from Sean Bunting (Forward, 2019) on the powerplay. Jake “Gooch” Mucitelli (Goalie, 2019) was solid in net, making 25 saves. The Huskies won by a score of 5-1, starting the tournament the way they wanted to.
The next game, later that day, was against Upper Canada College (UCC). It was a defensive battle right from the get-go with both teams playing great defense and both goalies shining. The Huskies scored on the powerplay in the 2nd period courtesy of Cole Leal (Defense, 2019). Later in the period, UCC had a 5 on 3 powerplay and scored twice to make it a 2-1 game. The Huskies did everything they could to come back, but it wasn’t enough. After the game their record stood at 1-1.
Early morning Saturday the Huskies were ready for a battle against CEGEP Jennois D’alma. They were a very physical and fast team from Quebec. This was a must-win for the Huskies if they wanted to stay in contention to be champions for the 3rd year in a row. The Huskies ran into penalty trouble in the game and D’alma was able to take a 2-0 lead. However the Huskies tied it at the end of the second period with goals from Sean Bunting and Pat Callahan (Forward, 18’). In the third, Sam DiBitetto was able to put the Huskies ahead capitalizing on a great pass from Bannister. Later Arquiett added another goal to seal it for the Huskies. Rico Dimatteo (Goalie, 20’) was great in net making 20 saves. Husky win put them in the semifinals later on that night against Calgary Edge.
The semifinal game was a tough hard-nosed game right from the drop of the puck. Both teams were unable to find much offense until Edge cashed in on the powerplay, ending the scoring drought for the game and making it 1-0. The Huskies did everything they could to fight back, but they were not able to pull through. Although the Huskies lost in the semifinal, they did many positive things that they were looking forward to building on.
