THE SENIORS have led the NRHS boys’ hockey team to a great season. The Hornets will get ready for the Div. 3 State Tournament sometime next week. Seedings will be announced this weekend. North Reading was ranked 16th in the MIAA’s latest D3 rankings. Pictured bottom row from left to right is Dean Rooney, Nick Albano, Landon Phillips and Matt Ryan. In the top row from left is Andrew Peppe, Joey Collins, Andrew Daley, Sam Elliott, Daniel Ancri, Cole Lopilato and Timmy McCarthy.
By DAN ZIMMERMAN
SAUGUS — Emotions ran high at friendly Kasabuski on Saturday night as a standing-room only crowd gathered to celebrate the North Reading seniors in their traditional sendoff. Immediately following, parents and other supporters took their place in the stands and around the glass and urged the Hornets to a one-sided win over the Northeast Knights.
On the strength of a hat trick from senior blue-liner Matt Ryan and a pair of goals from scoring-leader Andrew Daley, the Hornets carved out a 7-2 defeat of the Knights.
North Reading improved to 12-4-1 overall (3-3, Cape Ann League) with three games remaining. For the fourth time this season, the Hornets offset a loss with a noteworthy win. In this instance, the decisive win over Northeast followed last week’s discouraging 4-0 shutout defeat in Newburyport.
“This was definitely a nice bounce back from the loss the other night,” said North Reading Coach Brian McAuliffe. “This is our first time having the full squad and we were able to put a few things together.”
A few things would include a trio of unanswered first period goals to set the tone and put the Knights back on their heels. Max Forristall, positioned on the left point, collected a feed from Matt Young and fired, beating netminder Cooper Branzell through traffic to pick up his second goal of the season.
Prior to the game, 10 seniors were honored in a long-standing observance including Matt Ryan, who saved one of his finest performances for the largest crowd of North Reading faithful seen in some time. During one first period sequence, in particular, Ryan flattened a pair of Northeast forwards by dishing out back-to-back bruising checks and then set off on an end-to-end rush to score the first of his three goals on the night and make it 2-0.
“Matt was our MVP last year and he’s playing like that again this year,” said McAuliffe. “He’s just so solid out there, from his leadership, to his decisions with the puck, as well as his ability to take it coast-to-coast, just like Cole (Lopilato). He’s truly an asset back there.”
With one second left in the first, Lopilato made it 3-0, crashing the net with Young and Daley. His 8th-goal of the season was also the eventual game-winner. At the outset of the middle frame, Lopilato was in the mix again, lugging the puck into the zone and waiting for Branzell to commit. He clearly had ample target for a shot but instead, unselfishly passed back to a trailing Daley, who polished it off for a 4-0 lead.
Coming in, Northeast had a lot at stake. Armed with a 9-9-1 record for 19-points, the Knights were seeking a win or tie to qualify for a tournament berth. Easier said than done with first, North Reading standing in their path and later, a regular season finale with a 13-2 Essex Tech club.
“It was on our minds,” said Matt Ryan, when asked about the Hornets playing the role of spoiler and pushing their opponent to the brink of elimination. “But it wasn’t our priority. We knew what we had to do. We wanted to build some momentum, get a better playoff seed, and earn some first round home ice.”
The Knights halved the North Reading lead with a pair of power play goals, one at the tail end of the second, and the other inside the first minute of the third. Both were scored by Ryan LaRiviere while the Hornets’ special teams fought off a five-minute major. Ten penalties were whistled in a rough and tumble contest, with seven levied against North Reading.
The Knights’ resurgence proved brief. Ryan restored the 3-goal lead, unassisted with 10:07 left in the game. In the final three minutes, Daley added a power play goal, from Lopilato. And completing the hat trick, with 1:24 remaining, was Ryan with a shorthanded tally, again unassisted.
“Two of the goals tonight weren’t pretty,” said a humble Ryan, who is now tied with Lopilato for second on the team with 17-points (9-goals, 8-assists). “But I stuck to the game plan, got the shots on net, and they simply went in. We wanted to go out there and have a little fun on senior night, which we accomplished.”
North Reading traveled to Cape Cod on Monday-Tuesday to take part in the Jeff Hayes four-team tournament, starting with 7-8-2 Nantucket. The Hornets will wrap up the regular season with a makeup with Amesbury this afternoon. (All results in after press time). Beyond that, it’s off to the MIAA Tournament with pairings to be announced this weekend.