Martlets Topple Bearcats

The Martlets hopped on the Independent School Highway (Route 44 in Connecticut, for the cognescenti reading these pages) to visit the Bearcats of Hotchkiss. This is always a spirited contest, and over the years, the teams have played many close games. This edition, perhaps as both teams had just returned from their winter-long weekends and were playing with limited practice, was, for those loyal fans in attendance, a bit of a desultory affair. Both teams had their chances, and both goaltenders made their share of impressive saves, but in the end, the Martlets proved to have the deeper and more balanced bench. Full credit goes to the Hotchkiss goalkeeper, who faced 50 shots this afternoon, nevermind the others whizzing by as Martlets missed the net, turning aside 43 of them. On the other end of the ice, Martlet netminder Teddy Pemberton ‘29 had 26 saves of his own—and far too many on odd-man breaks and broken defensive zone coverages yielded by his Black and Gold teammates. The Bearcats's only tally came late in the 1st period when a  Westminster miscue in neutral ice gifted the home team a 2-on-1 break against Pemberton, and while he made the first save, his defensemen failed to clear the puck, and an open Bearcat slammed home the rebound. In truth, Pemberton deserved the shutout. For their part, the JVs were on the attack from the opening puck drop, and the first 10 minutes of the game were all Westminster. Once again, it was the line of Paul Coccaro ‘28, Dylan Zapata ‘27, and Xavier Kahn ‘27 who filled the scoresheet for the Martlets. Coccaro put the JVs up 1-0 early, on that line’s first shift of the game, when he collected a perfect pass from Kahn below the goal line and ripped a wrist shot over the Bearcat goalie’s left shoulder. Zapata made it 2-0 on their next shift when he took a pass from blueliner Mikey Wang ‘28 and fired the puck lower left into the net. The game settled into more of a back-and-forth affair after that, with the JVs holding that early lead, when, with five minutes to go in the opener, Drew Doering ‘29 broke in around a Hotchkiss defenseman and zipped the puck over the keeper’s outstretched right pad. That put the JVs up 3-0 ten minutes into the game, when, from the coaches perspective, the wheels came off a little bit. Perhaps the players were thinking more of their own names on the scoresheet than they were of the team, but the playingmaking and conscientious defensive commitment the team has shown in recent games fell apart for a bit. The first sign of that was Hotchkiss’s lone goal of the afternoon, which meant the 1st period ended 3-1 Westminster. The 2nd period was a forgettable 15 minutes. Too many penalties, by both teams, and a lack of discipline, again by both teams, disrupted the rhythm of the 1st period and left this old coach, for one, rolling his eyes more than a few times. You never want to look ahead past the opponent in front of you, but the coaches knew that the teams ahead of us on the schedule will punish us severely for playing this way—so the consistent message to the players was good habits, good habits, good habits. Between the 2nd and 3rd periods, the coaches turned the team over to Captains Reed Ghriskey ‘26 and Kahn and stayed away from the locker room. To the captains’ credit, the team got themselves in a better headspace and played a much better 3rd period. After some early stumbles and a penalty or two, that stronger, less selfish play netted 4 more goals and sealed the victory. Declan Davies ‘29 got the ball rolling with 6 minutes on the clock, carrying the puck from the Martlet blueline past a pair of Bearcats on the far side before cutting inside and deftly tucking the puck just inside the near post. Zapata earned his second goal of the game 2 minutes later on, incredibly, the Martlets first powerplay of the afternoon, when good puck possession in the Hotchkiss zone left him alone at the top of the far circle and he found the top corner of the net. Khan assisted on that goal for his third point of the game. Another 2 minutes after that, defenseman Benji Hanson ‘27 got his first goal of the season a few minutes later when he picked up a loose puck on the blue line and snapped a hard shot through traffic past the Bearcat goalie who, in fairness, never saw the puck. The JVs' scoring was rounded out with about a minute to play by Kahn, who took a pass from Coccaro down below the goal line—almost a perfect inverse of Coccaro’s opening goal—after another terrific shift and nailed the puck up under the crossbar. Coccaro earned the hard hat for this afternoon’s for his efforts, and also because the gritty centerman collected his first penalty in his Westminster career (for what, no one’s sure). Though the score was one-sided, the Martlets appreciate the scrappiness and no-quit work ethic of the Bearcats.  The team knows, too, that they’ll have to play far more consistently as we look ahead to Saturday: the Martlets will host the Choate Wild Boars on Saturday at 3 pm in the marquee matchup of the weekend. The Martlets bested the Wild Boars earlier in the season, but game two of this home-and-home series always features a better, stronger Choate team. That’ll be the focus of practice over the next two days. Saturday is, of course, Valentine’s Day, so order those flowers, make that dinner reservation, and line up the babysitter—but let your Valentine know that from 3 pm to 5 pm, you’ll be in the stands on Williams Hill. See you at the rink!