After press time: North Reading defeats Wilmington 6-2 to advance to the Elite 8 (March 1)
Follow the latest MIAA state tournament updates here.
Published February 27, 2025
Hornet boys’ hockey gets revenge against Gardner with 7-2 first round win
By DAN ZIMMERMAN
TEWKSBURY — In their one-sided triumph over Gardner in the MIAA Division 4 opening round, the North Reading Hornets exacted retribution for last year’s tournament defeat to this same Central Mass club.
As many will recall, the Gardner Wildcats eliminated North Reading last year at this time, taking advantage of a wayward deflection off the boards and skating out of the Breakaway Ice Arena with an upset 2-1 playoff win. It was a disappointing finish for a Hornets team that deserved a much better fate.
On Tuesday night, No. 9-seed North Reading returned to the scene of the crime and punished No. 24 Gardner, scoring five unanswered goals in the first period alone. Gardner picked up back-to-back power play goals in the middle frame, but the Hornets put it away with a pair in the third, including Christian Lava’s team-leading 22nd goal on a thrilling shorthanded breakaway.
“It was interesting how things played out mathematically in the rankings,” said North Reading coach Brian McAuliffe. “It seems like an aberration to host the same team two years in a row out of so many teams in the tournament. But I’m always referring to the hockey Gods and sure enough, I think they helped even things out for us.”
Five different Hornets accounted for the scoring in the first with senior blue-liner Max Forristall finding the back of the net for a go-ahead goal, soon doubled when he fed Jack Harty.
“Max Forristall was coming up the left side and I was in front,” said Harty, who earned well-deserved accolades from McAuliffe for his efforts at both ends of the ice. “Max hit me with a pass, and I just buried it.”
In a four-minute span late in the period, Duncan Gulino, Christian Lava and James Nelson added to the misery of Gardner netminder Kevin Thompson who, to that juncture, had yielded 5 goals on 7 shots from the Hornet snipers.
“One of the things we learned from last year is you can’t come out flat,” said McAuliffe. “That was the theme all week in practice. And all three lines followed through tonight, which was impressive. I wanted to make sure we had a really good first period and we certainly did.”
There wasn’t a player in a North Reading uniform who appreciated another confrontation with Gardner more than goaltender Charlie Cooper, after what took place last year. He also appreciated the “run support” and the comfortable lead provided by his teammates.
“This was an amazing game,” said Cooper who stopped 26-shots and was described by teammate Tommy Gazda as a brick wall. “Everybody played a great game but especially Jack Harty, who was blocking shots all over the place. Gardner did get a couple of goals by generating tips but other than that, I just did my job by covering up the puck and not giving up rebounds.”
Gardner traded their goalie for an extra attacker with more than 3-minutes remaining, but Thompson soon returned to the net when the last-ditch effort resulted in an empty-netter from Matthew Mericantante.
The Hornets will return to Breakaway this Saturday, March 1 at noon for the MIAA Tournament Round of 16. Their opponent will either be Wilmington or South Shore Vocational, two teams that will play Thursday night for the right to face North Reading.