Drury, Wahconah Skate to 3-3 Tie in Opener
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. - Opening night of hockey season brought a packed house to the Peter W. Foote Arena on Saturday night, where rivals Wahconah and Drury battled to a 3-3 tie.
Momentum shifted sides like a seesaw all the way, the contest a tug-of-war in which neither side could take full control. The Warriors erupted out of the gate and scored twice in the opening five minutes of play, but needed a goal late in order to force the draw. Meanwhile, the Blue Devils had three unanswered goals but were tripped up by some late penalties.
Both sides agreed afterwards that there were plenty of positives to use as building blocks for the long season ahead.
“It was back and forth and was a good effort from both teams. Both teams wanted the win but better a tie than a loss,” said Wahconah coach Matt Risley. “I thought we passed the puck very well, and that was something that we’ve been focusing on leading up to today. It is just about getting them into better game shape to compete. Rather than practice, we just need to get a few games under our belt and hopefully we’ll hit our stride and win a few games.”
The Blue Devils took the ice this year with a younger squad, on a roster with just six seniors and ten underclassmen. What the club lacked in experience it made up for with its athleticism.
“It was a good skate, and it was good to get out against a good team in a local rivalry,” Drury coach Kevin Ellingwood said. “We had a bunch of new kids in our freshmen and sophomores who got some ice time and showed us that they can play at this level. They played solid and it was a good first game.”
Wahconah burst out with a lead only 30 seconds into the action. Hunter LaBrode snuck one through traffic in front of the net off an assist from Mason Alfonso to give the Warriors a quick 1-0 advantage.
They continued to attack and apply pressure to the Blue Devil defense, resulting in another score just minutes later. This time Mike Cullett and Luke Peplowski worked the puck to Seamus Hayes, who tallied his first score of the season.
But then Drury settled in and began to seize the momentum. Players utilized their speed and slowly the Blue Devils shifted control and found some offense. By the time the first intermission arrived, Drury had responded with a pair of goals to even things back up. Caleb Rondeau put his club on the scoreboard off an assist from Brian Czarnecki with 2:10 left in the first, and then Kelsey Haley scored off an assist by Omar Uqdah.
It was Uqdah again with the assist in the second period, when Branden Lincoln cut loose in front of the net and gave Drury its first lead. After being knocked back with a big deficit early on, suddenly the Blue Devils had come all the way back to snatch a 3-2 edge, while forcing the Warriors to settle mostly for deep outside shots all throughout the second period.
“I think it was first-game jitters, and I’m proud of them for coming back on that,” Ellingwood said. “Our kids clamped down and started doing some of the fundamental stuff that we’ve been working on, and we were able to get back from a 2-0 deficit to going up on them 3-2. A couple unfortunate penalties late in the game put us down three against five.”
Already short a player due to penalty, Drury was flagged again with 3:36 left in the game. It took Wahconah a mere 14 seconds to capitalize with the equalizer, as LaBrode netted his second of the night off an assist from Ryan LaPierre.
While pleased that his team executed down the stretch when it absolutely had to, Riley is looking for that level of intensity the entire time. The Blue Devils are eager to make the playoffs this season after missing the postseason last year, and they went out and started the season playing like a team that means it.
“We’re looking for more consistency, a full game effort in that regard,” Risley said. “They played a good first half of the first period, and the last five minutes of the game. In between there were ebbs and flows where they had it and they didn’t have it. It is expected early in the season, so hopefully we can get that directed and get more consistent. We want to get this team to buy in, to compete with each other and play with each other, compete in every game and get some ‘W’s.”
Wahconah goalie Quinn Kearns had a strong night to help keep his team in it. Kearns had 15 saves on 28 shots against, including when he snatched a shot out of the air in the glove when Lincoln broke free and sent a laser perfectly on target with 8:05 remaining in the second period.
Drury goalie Corey Callander recorded seven saves.