Martlets Fall to AOF

The Black & Gold made the short trip down Route 10 to take on the Winged Beavers – a perennially exciting contest. To add to the drama, the Martlets dropped a game to Avon earlier in the season after taking the lead into the third period – a crusher the JVs were hoping to avenge. Alas, dear reader, it was not to be. Westminster ended up on the losing side of a 4-8 score, including a late empty-netter for the home team. Avon is always a scrappy, talented, and well-coached team, and today was no exception. The game did not begin on an auspicious note for the visitors, as the slow-to-start Martlets allowed AOF to score twice in the first 51 seconds. You read that right: the Martlets were down on the road in John Gardner Rink 0-2 only 51 seconds into the game. Neither goal falls on Jake Holland ‘24, who played well overall and certainly kept his team in the game throughout. Chasing the lead once again – a familiar refrain this season – the Martlets dug in. Battening down the hatches and battling through the end of the period, all while generating some good offensive chances of their own, the first frame ended with that same score on the board. Given the opportunity to gather themselves during the intermission, the team looked ahead to the second period with more purpose and focus. Despite a good start, it was Avon that got the next goal midway through the second to pad their lead, 0-3. Undaunted, the team redoubled their efforts and within a minute the Black and Gold were on the board. Xavier Kahn ‘27 finished an electrifying play that began when Daniel Venture ‘24, evading two Winged Beaver defenders, made a perfect cross-crease pass to a net-crashing Kahn. Dylan Ness ‘26 also assisted on the play. Both Venture and Ness forechecked relentlessly to force a turnover just inside the blue line, and a quick pass from Ness to Venture and then to Kahn made it 1-3. The second period ended with the JVs down, but the team felt the momentum building a bit. Certainly, the coaches believed the team was well in the game with the final 16 minutes to play. After the puck drop, and fewer than 45 seconds into the final period, Captain Reid Bulger ‘24 picked up a loose puck along the near boards – the product of a sustained forecheck from the hardworking line of Anthony DiBartolomeo ‘25, Jackson Alpaugh ‘24, and Jack Grahling ‘25 – and quickly wristed it through traffic over the Avon netminder’s outstretched glove. Though Bulger’s goal goes in the books as unassisted, it clearly resulted from the efforts of all five Martlets on the ice (the above quartet was joined by Dillon Seals ‘25 – who played perhaps his most complete game of the season – on the ice as Bulger’s defensive partner). Unfortunately, that 2-3 score was as close as the Martlets would get today. Avon kept coming, and their energy and tenacity produced the next four goals in a span of five minutes as Westminster tried to stem the tide. The Westminster blueliners, hard-pressed but doing their best, had their hands full as Avon’s forwards peppered Holland. Two of those goals came on the power play for Avon as the Martlets found themselves in the box and struggling to get the puck out of the zone. Down quickly 2-7, to their credit the JVs did not quit. Scoring twice in the final five minutes of the game, the Martlets demonstrated the same grit they’ve had throughout the season, often down but never out. Reed Ghriskey ‘26 banged in a rebound of a James Frangos ‘24 shot from the near the goal line; Frangos had collected a pass from Brenden Gilooly ‘26 in center ice before skating around an Avon defenseman towards the corner. Venture notched the final Westminster goal less than a minute later on a similar play; Kahn and Ness, with Venture buzzing all afternoon, assisted on Venture’s goal. The Winged Beavers added their eighth and final goal into the empty net with Holland on the bench for the final two minutes as the Martlets pressed hard to get closer but to no avail. Ultimately, the slow start handicapped the JVs: down 0-2 early is a hard hill to claim against Avon playing well at home. The final score perhaps doesn’t tell the whole tale; the Martlets outshot the Winged Beavers 29 to 23 and certainly in the second and third periods the game was fairly even. Absent the first 51 seconds and the empty-netter, it was a 4-5 game. But as this old coach well knows, “ if ifs and ands were pots and pans, there would be no work for the tinkers.” The team returned to Williams Hill disappointed with the result but overall pleased with the effort. Contributing this afternoon were defensemen Lane Gallagher ‘25, Richard Kim ‘25, Max Simpson ‘24, and Nick Wurts ‘24 (Wurts was converted to defense in a game-time lineup shuffle that the coaches appreciate). Forwards Zac Jainchill ‘25, Auggie Barrett ‘24, and Benji Hanson ‘27 also turned in some solid shifts. Next up is the season finale against Deerfield; the Big Green will be in town for a 1 pm matinee. The Martlets will look to finish the season on a high note in front of the Jackson Rink faithful. The gates will open in the morning for the anticipated standing-room-only crowd expected. See you at the rink!