Martlets Dominate Kent

The Martlets welcomed the Kent Lions to Jackson Rink for the main event on this chilly Saturday evening. Kent is always a strong opponent for the JVs, but coming off Friday’s Chipotle team event, the Martlets were fueled up and ready to compete. With Paul Coccaro ‘28’s two goals and netminder Teddy Pemberton ‘29’s 18 saves leading the way, the Black and Gold skated to a convincing victory over the visitors. The coaches were pleased with the entire team’s overall play, with several Martlets producing their best games of the season. Blueliner Matthew Polastry ‘29 got the team on the board early, crashing in on the Kent net only 2 minutes into the game and hammering home a perfect pass from below the goal line from Dylan Zapata ‘28. Xavier Kahn ‘28 also assisted on the play, collecting the puck along the far boards and finding Zapata. Joined by linemate Coccaro, Zapata and Kahn were everywhere in the Kent offensive zone this evening, creating scoring chances and maintaining possession during their many strong shifts. Zapata made it 2-0 Westminster about 4 minutes later when he pounced on a rebound of a Grayson Augsberger ‘29 shot from the point. Augsberger had his most consistent and productive game of the season, playing well and with confidence in all three zones. The 1st period ended with the Martlets on top by that score, and both teams retired to the locker room to prepare for the 2nd. The team was feeling pretty good about their start, and appropriately so, but this old coach knows well that a 2-0 margin is the worst lead in hockey, and the emphasis was on maintaining good structure and balance, and playing with discipline. The team knows we’re pretty good 5-on-5, and staying out of the box is a key to our success. This the JVs mostly did for the remainder of the game. In the 2nd stanza, the Martlets added two more tallies while holding the Lions to only a handful of chances that were managed well by Pemberton (one, a breakaway following a turnover by a Westminster defenseman, was the save of the game). Sam McGarvey ‘28 built the lead to 3-0 when he took a pass from Benji Hanson ‘27 behind Pemberton and went the full 200 feet, weaving between a pride of Lions, before lifting a backhand over the left shoulder of the goalie. That goal came on the first shift of the 2nd period and set the tone. Barely 3 minutes later, Coccaro netted his first goal of the game when he ripped a wrist shot past the Lion keeper from the top of the slot; Zapata earned the primary assist on the goal, and Kahn the secondary assist. Though those were the only two goals of the period for the JVs, they had several quality chances and controlled the play. Credit to Kent, however, who continued to battle and force the Martlets to play good defense when called upon. And credit, too, to the pair of Kent keepers: they had 40 saves between them today. After a brief break before the start of the 3rd and final period, the Martlets got back to work, and with 16 full minutes to play, the team was looking to “kill the game”: play hard, play clean, and protect Pemberton. Coccaro notched his 2nd of the game about 3 minutes into the period when he took a pass from Polastry down low to the Kent goalie’s left and lifted the puck up under the bar. Roughly midway through the frame, Patrick Saxe ‘26 scored the final Martlet goal of the day and made the lead 6-0 when, on the powerplay, he received a pass from McGarvey and threaded the puck through traffic from the blue line past the keeper—Saxe’s and McGarvey’s linemate Reed Ghriskey ‘26, though he doesn’t show up on the scoresheet, was central to Saxe’s goal as he set a perfect screen and the Lion keeper never saw the shot. Perhaps letting their guard down or playing a little too casually, a minute after Saxe’s tally, a miscue by the Martlet defensive pair led to a turnover that Kent took full advantage of, working the puck quickly from Pemberton’s left to his right and spoiling the Black & Gold keeper’s shutout bid. That’s too bad, as Pemberton had a strong game against this Founders League rival and deserved the shutout. With the score 6-1 in favor of Westminster and the JVs continuing to generate scoring chances, the clock wound down to a Martlet victory. This was a solid team victory, and everybody on the bench today contributed. Joining Polastry, Hanson, and Augsberger on the blue line were Soren Techet ‘28, Carsten Matthews ‘28, and Mikey Wang ‘28; every member of this sextet had a good game. In addition, forwards Tyler Ungerman ‘26, Jack Pickett ‘26, Declan Davies ‘29, and Drew Doering ‘29 all played well and kept the Lions under pressure. Also deserving mention are today’s backup goalies, Danny Maher ‘26 and Lucas Steniger ‘29, always ready on the doors, and the team’s indispensable managers and IR list: George Baird ‘26, Max Butensky ‘29, Shangkuan Yang ‘28, and Lester Gu ‘27. Today’s win finishes a busy week of hockey for the team and lifts the JVs’ record to 7-5 on the year. The boys will enjoy their Sunday off, but then it’s back to work on Monday: this coming Wednesday, the Martlets will host perennial rival Avon Old Farms—always one of the toughest and best-coached teams in the league. The puck drop is at 2 pm, so make plans to take a half day off from work (or at least sneak away from the office for a long lunch) to catch the action at Jackson Rink. See you at the rink!