MacWhinnie Hat Trick Gives Drury Icers Tie with Wahconah
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. -- There is a time to be generous, and there’s a time to take over the game.
For the Drury hockey team’s Hoby MacWhinnie, the last 15 minutes of Wednesday’s game against Wahconah fell into the latter category.
MacWhinnie scored three goals in the final period to bring the Blue Devils back from deficits of 2-0 and 3-2 and earn a 3-3 tie at Peter W. Foote Vietnam Veterans Memorial Rink.
“Coach said someone needed to put their team on their back, so I kind of took that to heart and got a selfish with the puck,” MacWhinnie said. “But that’s what we needed.”
He got Drury on the board with a shot from the inside of the left-wing faceoff circle with an assist from Mitchell Andrews at the 35 minute, 8 second mark to make it 2-1, Wahconah.
Just 30 seconds later, MacWhinnie got an unassisted goal on a rush up the left wing to tie the game, 2-2.
“We shortened our bench a little bit,” Drury coach Kevin Ellingwood said. “We were running three lines the first two periods and lining our third line up against their third line. We didn’t do that in the third. We shortened our two lines and had our first line go against their third line.
“And in one shift, we got two our goals. I think our first two goals were against their third line. Just a classic shortening the bench.”
Wahconah recovered to retake the lead less than two minutes later when Ernie Lampron scored on a rebound of Drury goalie Nate Haley (20 saves) to make it 3-2.
The game’s final goal started with a kick save by Haley to deny a Wahconah chance. MacWhinnie ended up taking the puck out of the defensive zone and up the right wing for Drury, centering a pass to Andrews and receiving a return pass before slipping a shot past Wahconah’s Quinn Kearns (25 saves).
Wahconah coach Jeff Daury was disappointed in his team’s effort with the two-goal lead and 15 minutes to play.
“[The first two periods] really, they had very few quality scoring opportunities, and the ones they had, Quinn made some nice saves,” Daury said. “Then we found a new way to lose. Even though it wasn’t a loss, that’s a loss.
“At some point, you do have to question the hearts of the kids a little bit. We’re rolling 15 guys out there. Certainly, we don’t really have an excuse. We have a nice, young freshman line out there that played their tail off tonight on the forward line, and maybe our upperclassmen could learn from that a little bit.”
Wahconah built its lead with goals in the first and second periods.
Ryan LaPierre scored the game’s first goal unassisted in the 13th minute. Early in the second, Luke Peplowski scored out of a scramble in front of Haley to make it 2-0.
Drury and Wahconah will meet for the second time this season on Friday when the Blue Devils visit the Boys & Girls Club.
“You always want to win a rivalry game,” MacWhinnie said. “You focus more in practice. We want the ‘W’ because we know these guys. We play with them in youth hockey. So it’s even more special when you get the ‘W.’
“Tonight was a tie, but going into the third down two goals, that’s a win in my book.”