Martlets Shutout NMH

The Martlets opened the 2023-2024 campaign this afternoon up in Gill, MA against the Hoggers from Northfield Mount Hermon. For as long as this coach can remember, this game is always a hard-fought battle between two talented teams looking for their footing early in their seasons. At puck drop, the outside temperature hovered around 50 degrees making the conditions in the rink pleasant for the coaches but challenging for the players. With the glass fogged, the Martlets came out flying to start the game. On the opening shift, Cullen Horn ’25 tipped home a point shot off the stick of Eric Elbery ’24 to open the scoring. The Martlets built momentum from there and had the Hoggers on their heels for most of the first. Halfway through the first Easton Masse ’25 found Timmy Donohue ’27 streaking toward the net. Donohue corralled the pass and beat the netminder to give the Martlets the 2-0 lead after the first frame of play. Credit to the Hoggers for coming out hard in the second, and pushing the Black and Gold back on their heels. While the Hoggers carried the play in the second, Martlet tender Matteo De Luca ’24 turned away bid after bid to keep the 2-0 Martlet lead after two periods. The final period was a great 18 minutes of hockey. The Martlets played their best hockey in the third and with just under 10 minutes to play Martlet defender JJ Hurley ’25 intercepted a pass in the neutral zone, carried the puck over the Hoggers blue line and fired a beauty of a shot to give the Martlets the 3-0 lead. De Luca stood tall in the third and the Martlets grabbed their first win of the season. TP on Monday.