Martlets Fall to Taft

On a bright January Wednesday, the Martlets traveled over the Litchfield Hills to take on the Rhinos of Taft. The Black & Gold played a solid game for good stretches, but unfortunately the hosts – and in particular the Taft goalie, who played very well – came away with the win. The first period was a scoreless affair, though both teams had their chances. Westminster goalie Alex Martinez ‘26 played a strong game throughout, ultimately making 25 saves for the game. These included several snuffed breakaways and more than a few deflections and rebounds as he was too often left exposed by his teammates, especially in the second period. The Martlets had a chance to take an early lead when Jackson Alpaugh ‘24 jumped on a loose puck in center ice and raced forward with linemate Augie Barret ‘24 on a 2-on-1 rush. But Alpaugh’s shot came to nought as it clanged off the crossbar and up in to the protective netting. It was Taft that got on the board first, just at the start of the second period, when a miscue on the offensive blueline led to a 2-on-1 break against Westminster. With defenders in pursuit, the Taft forward gained a step ripped a shot into the upper left corner from the right faceoff circle for a 1-0 lead. Taft added to their lead only a minute later on the powerplay – Westminster was in the midst of killing off a justly called major penalty – when a scramble in front of Martinez ended with the puck in the back of the net. The second period was a bit of a struggle for Martlets, as they did not play consistently tough defense in their end, too often leaving the high slot wide open and gaps along the walls. Such a failure led to Taft’s third goal in the second period, when a pass from below the Westminster goal line found a Taft forward in perfect shooting position with traffic in front of Martinez. And so the second ended with Westminster down, 0-3. The Martlets went into the locker room after the second period looking to regroup and and recommit to more consistent forechecking and defensive zone coverage. Throughout the game, when Westminster’s forwards worked together on the forecheck, Taft was often stymied in their end; this will be a goal in practice this week. The third started with good energy from the visitors, but again the Black & Gold suffered from some unfortunate puck luck and Taft took advantage of another turnover to make the score 4-0. To their credit, the Martlets continued to battle – it should be noted that in the end Westminter outshot Taft 38-29 (and this does not count the number of shots blocked by Rhino defenders) – but could not solve the riddle of the Taft keeper. Westminster added a consolation goal on the powerplay late in the third period, when Cameron Freeman ‘25, who had a solid game overall, slammed a loose puck in front into Rhino cage. That play began with a shot from the point by Corbin Simons ‘25, who also played well, and a second shot from the always steady Jack Adams ‘23 before the puck found Freeman. Final score, 1-4 in favor of Taft – though that score is not indicative of the fairly balanced contest overall, or the several sustained stretches of good pressure the Black & Gold produced. Kudos to Jack Rockefeller ‘23, who played another terrific game, and to the line of Troy Griffith ‘23, Owen Murphy ‘23, and Jack Grahling ‘25, who played hard and put in some needed blue-collar shifts. The Martlets will have to work on a few things to be more consistent and effective, including that forechecking system and better 5-on-5 defense in their own end. They’ll have to do so quickly: the team has Hillside School up on Friday at Jackson Rink and then Salisbury on the road on Saturday. Both games promise to be tough ones – but the coaches are confident the team has the talent to compete.