Tuesday, March 14, 2006

Red Raiders relish tight win over Dover

By JOHN DOYLE
Staff Sports Writer
jdoyle@fosters.com

MANCHESTER — a win is a win, and when it was all said and done, the Spaulding High School hockey team didn't care how it beat Dover on Sunday to clinch its third state championship, and second in Division II.

But in the end, the team, as well as everyone in attendance (save for Dover's fans), were happy it was a close, exciting game. The Red Raiders beat their rivals 3-2 after Sean Conroy fed the puck into the net with just 3:31 to play in the third period, breaking a 2-2 tie.

"It's awesome to win the championship, but it's even better to beat Dover," said Red Raider junior defenseman Josh McGilvray. "Especially after losing 6-0 to them in the finals two years ago. It was nice to get it back."

The top-seeded Red Raiders, who are riding the wave of a 19-game win streak and finished the season at 19-1-1, agreed that winning a close one made their championship run all the more satisfying.

"I think it's better that it was a close game," McGilvray said. "Blowouts aren't really any fun. One of the sides is going to be crushed. Dover may be upset that they lost, but at least they kept it close. It was a good game."

Certainly, winning the two previous D-II championships took a little of the sting off of Sunday's loss for the Green Wave.

"If we were still looking for our first championship, then it would hurt a lot worse," Dover coach Ray Terrell said.

The Green Wave came tantalizingly close to becoming the first team to win three straight D-II titles and the first in any division since Concord won four straight in Division I from 1996-1999. It came into the game with a decimated lineup after suffering an injury and a rash of suspensions, both academic and disciplinary. No. 2 Dover, which finished the season with a league record of 15-3-1, dressed just 11 players for the game.

"With the lineup that we started with at the beginning of the year, with the strength of this league, to finish in second place (is remarkable)," Terrell said. "We only lost to one (D-II) team all year, Spaulding."

Dover, playing on fumes, pulled goalie Jake Johnson with a minute to go to give them one last chance to tie things up. But the Spaulding defense held strong and pushed the puck to the corner in the final seconds. When the horn blew, the scene on the ice at the Verizon Wireless Arena was a jubilant one for Spaulding. Helmets, sticks and gloves were tossed into the air as the Red Raiders celebrated their first Division II hockey title since 2003.

"In the first period, Dover came out strong," sophomore defenseman Sully Harte said. "I just feel like they kind of died down in the second and third. But I felt like we contained them really well."

"We worked hard and battled for our opportunities," Spaulding coach Paul George said. "The breaks showed themselves to us, and we were able to knock it home."

The Spaulding defense was especially sharp in the final 3:31 of the game, and can thank defenseman Matt Norraik for making a great stop on a Todd Bartlett shot late in the period.

"I saw Barty with the puck, and I figured this was my chance to do something to really contribute to this win," Norraik said. "He can score from anywhere. I got lucky — I just wanted to get the puck out of there."

Spaulding won all three meetings this season against Dover, winning 3-0 and 4-1 in the regular season and then 3-2 on Sunday. Spaulding's Jamie Ferullo amassed nine points against the Green Wave in those three games, scoring all three goals in the 3-0 win, a goal and three assists in the 4-1 win, and two assists on Sunday.

"I didn't care how many points I had today, I just wanted the team to win," Ferullo said.

Spaulding finished the season with 19 straight wins, including playoff wins over No. 8 Kingswood (3-2) and No. 5 Alvirne (4-2). The Red Raiders became just the second top seeded team in the 12-year history of D-II to win the championship. Dover turned the trick last year.

The teams played relatively even in the first period, until Dover's Zach Joy scored the game's first goal with just 1.8 seconds to go. Second period goals by Conroy and Will Gibson gave Spaulding a 2-1 lead, but then the Green Wave's Bryan Hart connected to tie the game at 2-2, which is where it stood after two.

"It took us a while to wake up," said junior forward Josh Poisson. "But when we finally did, we beat them in the second and third periods."

For Poisson, the win was especially sweet, ever since the Red Raiders were smoked by Dover in the title game in 2004 (6-0) and didn't even make last year's final; Spaulding lost in the quarterfinals at Bow and Dover went onto beat Oyster River in the final, 6-1.

"I wasn't out there (in 2004), but I saw the look on people's faces," Poisson said. "I was happy to get it back for them. All the seniors, they deserve it."

This year's seniors included Eric Couture, David Foote, Kenny Anctil, goalie Dan Trepanier, as well as three who finish their careers with two rings — Conroy, Gibson and Kelly Poulis.

The afternoon was bittersweet for Trepanier, who shared the goaltending duties equally all season with Sunday's winner, junior Cory McGlone. Trepanier, a key ingredient to the Red Raiders' success all season, did not play on Sunday.

"I think we would have pulled it off either way," Trepanier said. "We just had our heads in the right place this time. We had some players who really, really wanted to win this time, and I think that helped. Our young assistant coaches helped a lot."

Trepanier, who was the winner in Spaulding's 4-2 semifinal win over No. 5 Alvirne, said that he will look back on this season with pride, even if he had to cede the spotlight in the championship game. He chooses to focus on the larger body of work.

"Obviously, it would have been a little better if I'd had a little more participation in it," he said. "I did play a great game against Alvirne to get us there. I like to think that if it wasn't for me, we wouldn't have gotten here."