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Martlets Win at Home

The host Martlets, playing their fourth game in seven days – and with a fifth game looming tomorrow – welcomed the always tough St. Luke’s Stormy icemen at Jackson Rink. The game did not disappoint, as spirited play in all three zones entertained the capacity crowd for three periods. The home side prevailed, scoring two power play goals and an empty-netter with the clock winding down to seal the victory. Westminster netminder Max Hausman ‘25 posted 25 saves for the game, including a handful of acrobatic displays, to hold St. Luke’s to one goal for all their hard work on the evening. Westminster opened the scoring in the 2nd period – after a back-and-forth first stanza – when Corbin Simons ‘25 took a pass from Jack DeGulis ‘23 and slipped by several Stormy defenders and fired the puck past the St. Luke’s keeper on the powerplay for the 1-0 Martlet lead. The goal was long in coming, as the Black and Gold played many solid minutes in the first period and for much of the second, generating good forechecking pressure. Ultimately, the Martlets had 29 shots on the night – with 12 in the second – so Simons’s goal was overdue. Westminster made the lead 2-0 when Jake Timone ‘25, just off the infirmary list, jumped off the bench and onto a pass from James Frangos ‘25 with only about a minute to play in the second and deftly slid the puck into the Stormy net. The goal, too, was technically on the power play, but Westminster was changing lines and Timone took clever advantage of the resulting space to pad the home side’s lead. The third opened with the Martlets up 2-0 – which the coaches and long-time fans know is the worst lead in hockey – and a little loose play and one too-many risky moves with the puck led to a turnover in the Martlet end which a St. Luke’s player pounced on and, with a quick side-too-side move, beat a lonely Hausman to halve the Westminster lead to 2-1. The JVs recovered a bit, and put together a string of good shifts, but careless penalties kept the Stormy in the game. With about 4 minutes to play, St. Luke’s called a timeout which perhaps inadvertently benefited the Martlets – it gave the team a chance to take a deep breath, straighten out the lines, and prepare to kill the game. And that’s exactly what Westminster did, playing good defense in the home end and frustrating St. Luke’s 6-on-5 advantage with their goalie on the bench. Cameron Freeman ‘25 solidified the win with an empty net goal, taking a a good clearing play from Jack Grahling ‘25, who won the puck, and the blue line, getting the biscuit into neutral ice with some gritty defensive play. Freeman took the puck wide on his backhand, muscled off two St. Luke’s defenders, and calmly slid the puck in to the visitors’ net with just under 2 minutes to play. That was enough, as the Martlet’s played smart hockey in the waning minutes to lock up the win. Overall, the coaches were pleased with the team’s efforts, as the defensive and offensive systems are taking hold. Every player contributed at one time or another in this win. Of special mention are Peter Diorio ‘24 and the defensive corps led by Jack Rockefeller ‘23 and Jack Carter ‘23, and including Miles Kim ‘24, Evin Curtiss ‘24, Corbin, and Owen Murphy ‘23. When the team plays smart hockey, and everyone focuses on doing their job as well and as hard as they can, the team enjoys success – it’s the occasional lapses we’ll have to work on eliminating. The JVs will have another chance to improve tomorrow: with scarcely a day of rest, the Martlets will take on the Hoggers of Northfield Mount Hermon Saturday at Jackson Rink. Always an entertaining game, this one promises to be no different. The puck drops at 3:15 pm Saturday!
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