Martlets Defeat Williston

The Martlets boarded a northbound bus for the trip up Interstate 91 to take on the Wildcats of Williston. As this old coach knows all too well, Williston’s Lossone Rink is always a tough place to play: it's a small rink, and as it's that much closer to the Arctic Circle it's cold as well. The Wildcats lived up to their name, scrapping hard for each puck and playing with real tenacity – and giving the Black and Gold a tough game as a result. Playing with a short bench of only fourteen skaters because of injury, illness, and – ahem – extracurriculars in our last game, the boys had their mittens full. The Martlets got on the board first when Daniel Venture ‘24 scored four minutes in off a nice pass from Dylan Ness ‘26 from below the goal line, and Anthony DiBartolomeo ‘24 made it 2-0 just over a minute later when he took the puck the full length of the ice before sliding the puck between the keeper’s pads. Perhaps the JVs thought it would be easy after those two quick scores because the coaches felt they took their foot off the gas pedal a little bit and lost their focus, giving Williston the room they needed to settle in and battle back. After those two Westminster tallies, the Wildcat goalie found his rhythm as well, making several big saves on Martlet chances. Westminster held on through the end of the first period, though Holland had to make a few too many saves after miscues or risky plays. The second opened with more even play, with the Martlets struggling to find consistency on the tighter ice surface – trying to stickhandle through traffic is never a good idea. Williston earned the next goal to make it 2-1 when a hard shot off the sideboards into the crowd in front of Holland caromed into the net. That was at the halfway mark of the second, and the Wildcats made it 2-2 less than two minutes later when the JVs failed to clear the puck, lost a puck battle, and got bottled up in their end. The pressure led to a turnover, and Williston got the puck to the net and scored on the rebound. Williston kept up the attack, but the Martlets, suddenly awake, found their legs and began to play their game. The second frame ended knotted 2-2. With some gentle reminders from the coaches to “play simple” and bear down, Westminster began the third with a series of strong shifts, entering the Williston zone with possession and connecting passes below the faceoff dots in the Wildcat end. This led to a Williston penalty, and Reid Bulger ‘24 scored the eventual game-winning goal with seven-and-a-half minutes to go in the game when he collected a pass on the blue line from Ness, stationed on the far boards, and ripped the puck over the Wildcat keeper’s left shoulder. That goal energized the Martlets, and in the final six minutes of the game the team netted three more goals: Zac Jainchill ‘25 received a perfect stretch pass on the center line from Ben Norten ‘25 from deep in the Martlet end and beat his man down the left side before slotting the puck passed the keeper on the near post; Xavier Kahn ‘27 was the beneficiary of sustained possession and tic-tac-toe passing from Venture and Ness, snapping the puck under the post to the keeper’s left; and Venture completed the scoring for the day when he replicated Kahn’s goal with DiBartolomeo and Norten assisting. Overall, while the shorthanded Martlets perhaps didn’t have their most complete game – and the boys were clearly gassed when the final horn sounded – they certainly got the job done in the end, particularly in the third period. Bulger and Norten were joined on the blue line by Lane Gallagher ‘25, Richard Kim ‘25, and Max Simpson ‘24, all of whom contributed to the victory. Ditto to forwards Jack Grahling ‘25, Jack Peterson ‘25, and Benji Hanson ‘27, who skated hard, killed penalties, and did their part. And while we’re at it, a big shout out to backup netminder Danny Maher ‘26, who braved the cold and ably manned the door and supported the team throughout. In all, the JVs fired 37 shots on the Williston keeper; on the Black and Gold end netminder Jake Holland ‘24 faced 17. The hard hat went to Venture for his three-point afternoon and solid defense. The win gets the Martlets back to .500 on the season at 5-5-1. The team will rest up and prepare over the next two days for the Kent Lions, who roar into Jackson Rink on Saturday. This game is always a tight one, so clear your calendars, get a babysitter, take care of your errands, and get to Jackson Rink early to grab your seat. See you at the rink!