Details

Martlets Defeat Williston

On a bright and cold January afternoon, the injury and Covid-depleted JV team traveled up the Old College Highway to take on the Wildcats of Williston Northampton. Always a tough place to play, the Martlet’s faced a hardworking, gritty opponent anchored by an outstanding goaltender. The story of the game is told in the shot totals: the JVs fired 47 shots on the Williston net, while Westminster netminder Alec Rosenbaum ‘23 faced only 14. To their credit, Williston hung around, frustrating the Westminster attack and launching quick counters of their own deep into the 3rd period. The Black and Gold took the early lead in the 1st when Easton Masse ‘25 took a short pass from Jack Rockefeller ‘22 on the far wall and fired a quick snap shot over the keeper’s shoulder on the second shift of the game. After that, the Williston goalie slammed the door shut, turning aside shot after shot and holding the line despite sustained offensive zone possession from Westminster. Midway through the 2nd period, the Wildcats evened the score when a nifty skating forward took advantage of a mishandled puck in his own end and zipped 150 feet, beating a Martlet defensemen on the outside before cutting in and around Rosenbaum to tuck the puck neatly into the net. The 2nd period ended in a tie, and to be frank the coaches were a little nervous – despite Westminster controlling the play, the Wildcats were very much in the game. With renewed purpose, the Martlets can storming out in the 3rd and quickly seized a 2-1 lead when Miles Kim ‘24 collected a puck off the boards and unleashed a laser-like shot that found its way through the traffic in front of the Wildcat net and into the top left corner (in fairness to the Wildcat keeper, it’s unlikely he even saw the shot). Sawyer von Jess assisted on the play. Williston was undaunted, however, and on the very next shift managed to tie up the game when another Martlet miscue led to an odd-man break against. Rosenbaum made the initial save, but the forward momentum of the crashing Wildcats pushed the puck over the goal line: 2-2. The Martlets continued to press, however, and about two minutes later, after another long stretch of pressure in the Williston end, Jack Adams ‘23 received a pass just to the left of the high slot from von Jess (who was fed the puck by Kim laterally across the blue line) and ripped a quick shot just under the crossbar. The last 12 minutes of the game featured better and better play from Westminster, though Rosenbaum was called upon to make several strong saves when the skaters in front of him took a few too many chances. Finally, with less than a minute to play and the Wildcat goalie on the bench, Cole Raycraft ‘23, just off the Covid list and forechecking hard, forced a turnover in front of the Williston bench and cooly tucked the puck into the empty net to ice the victory. The coaches breathed a sigh of relief – as expected, this game was really in question right to the end. As expected, the Wildcats were a tough opponent. With the Hill Holiday tomorrow, the JVs will enjoy a day off – but we’ll get back to work on Friday to prepare for Kent, always one of the toughest games of the season.
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