Recently, the Varsity team travelled to New England Sports Center in Marlborough, Massachusetts, for a United Tier 1 Hockey League weekend. This was their second league weekend. Entering the weekend, Northwood was 3-3 in the league and was looking to add to its win total this weekend.
The Varsity team played its first game of the weekend against Velocity Academy. During the first half, Northwood was all over Velocity, up and down the ice, controlling the game at the right pace. Northwood starts the scoring with Elliott Murch ’27 sniping one past the goalie, taking the lead 1-0. Then, Velocity came off hot, scoring two goals on Luke Hurlbut ’26 back-to-back to take the lead 2-1, and that is when the team needed to wake up. Northwood answered back with a goal before the end of the first half, and Andrew Sherland ’26 tied the score at 2-2.
In the second half, Northwood came out with a different mindset, slowing the game down to the Northwood brand of hockey. The Varsity team scored a goal to break the tie by Justin MacLeod ’26, making the score 3-2. The team was all over the Velocity, scoring another goal by Jett Travis ’27, making the score 4-2. Velocity was finding no life in the second half, with Northwood scoring the finishing goal by Griffin Mangan ’26 with an open net goal, taking the win 5-2 over Velocity Academy.
“I believe that the team plays great all over the ice,” said Harry Vant ’26. “The team was able to bounce back on Velocity to secure the win and play the Northwood brand of hockey,” Harry added.
The Varsity team plays its second game of the weekend against Epic Academy. In the first half, the game was back-and-forth, with neither team able to score first, but Epic took the lead on a goal by Ethan Nau ’26, 1-0. Northwood took the goal to heart and answered back with a goal by Jackson Marchione ’27, who was able to sneak one past the Epic goalie, tying the game 1-1.
During the second half of the game, both teams have been going back and forth for many minutes, draining down period down to its final 8 minutes with Epic Academy scoring a goal on Ethan, making the score 2-1. Northwood was not done scoring a goal with 5 minutes left on the game clock by Jett Travis ’27, making the score 2-2. The game-ending Epic came down the ice at speed and scored the game-winning goal, winning 3-2. Epic Academy took the win over Northwood 3-2.
“It sucks to lose, but the team played a great game up and down the ice playing a 200-foot game,” Drew Tulloch ’26 said. “The team just needs to put this game behind us and focus on the next game moving forward and come out with the W,” Drew added.
The Varsity team plays its third game of the weekend against the New Hampshire Avalanche. In the first half, Northwood came off slow; they weren’t pounding the puck or being physical. Then, Northwood had a wakeup call by the Avalanche, almost scoring a goal to open the scoring. Northwood switched its mindset and scored the first goal on a beautiful play by Elliott Murch ’27, who set up his linemate for the score, making it 1-0 at the end of the first half.
During the second half, Northwood came out flying, scoring a goal on the power play by Drew Tulloch ’26, a snipe from the blueline bottom right corner, making the score 2-0. The game was going back and forth until Northwood scored again by Justin MacLeod ’26, a snipe in the high slot, passed the Avalanche goalie, carrying the score 3-0. Northwood takes the win over the New Hampshire Avalanche 3-0.
“The team played amazingly all over the ice. The structure we played in all three of the zones was perfect,” Ryan Demers ’27 said. The goals scored during the game were incredible. Scoring three beautiful goals was fun to watch,” Ryan added.
Varsity plays its final game of the weekend against Northeast Academy. In the first half, the teams went back and forth, with both goalies securing the pipes. Deep into the first half, Northwood was able to find a goal on the power play by Drew Tulloch ’26, a snipe from the top of the circle, zooming past the Northeast goalie, making the score 1-0 at the end of the first half.
In the second half, Northwood came out flying on Northeast. Northwood was putting up the shots, but the Northeast was holding the fort well throughout the second half. Until Northwood scored another goal by Justin Macleod ’26, making the game 2-0 for Northwood. The Varsity team takes the win over Northeast Academy 2-0.
“The team played amazingly throughout the game, structures, and systems. Overall, the team did their job,” said Luke Hurlbut ’26. “The team played amazingly this weekend, and now I am excited for the South Kent weekend,” Luke added.
The Varsity team had a great weekend, going 3-1, and is now 6-4 in this league. Let us hope the Varsity team remains hot throughout the rest of the season.
