Monday, November 15, 2010

Jr. A Makes it to the Warrior Classic Championship

Here is a great recap of the weekend from Coach Lounsbury and Coach Travis:

A warrior can be defined in many ways; this weekend the wolverine Jr A team made their own definition of the word warrior! In their first showcase tournament of the season the Bridgton Boys in Black and Gray were focused on the task at hand.

Game 1: vs Florida Eels

Win 6-1

The Florida Eels came out hard but were no match for the wolverines as BA rolled through their first opponent 6-1 with a win. Slick Willy Husic (Glastonbury, CT) kicked aside 16/17 shots in the win.

Goals came from Marco Spisso (Highland Falls, NY) with assists from Ryan Dooley (Topsfield, MA) and Charlie Cobb (South Burlington, VT), Brad McGovern (Haverhill, MA) with assists from Matt Buckley (Canton, MA) and Ryan Menard (Ashland, MA), Tyler Albano (Beverly, MA) with assists from Ryan Donovan (Bridgewater, MA) and Alex Bartlett (South Burlington, VT), D.J. Cavicchi (Plymouth, MA) with an assist from Stephen Laliberte (Falmouth, MA), Dan Concannon (Everett, MA) with assists from Moore and McGovern, and Ryan Kulik (Pembroke, MA) with assists from Cavicchi and Laliberte. Mike Peacock (Barnstable, MA) and John Delpadre (North Providence, RI) were both +3 on defense.

Game2: vs St. Foye

Win 3-1

This was considered the best game of the season from the entire team’s perspective. Everyone on the team bought into the system and played as a whole for 50 solid minutes. The Quebec Junior team again was no match as Bridgton put together the most complete 50 min of the season.

Goals were scored by McGovern with an assist from Buckley, Kulik from Dan Sullivan (Burlington, MA), and Cavicchi with assists from Erik Burke (Manchester, NH) and Shawn Kenney (Braintree, MA). Brad Cray (Raleigh, NC) stopped 20/21 shots in a very impressive performance.

Game 3: vs Atlanta Knights

Win 3-1

Another great challenge for the boys wearing the home white unis. Though things got a little rough at the end, the boys stuck together and had each other’s backs and won in impressive fashion, 3-1, against a very big and skilled Atlanta team.

Moore’s first goal was from Concannon and McGovern and his second from Buckley and Menard. Moore also tallied an assist with Concannon on McGoverns goal. Cray put together back to back games with another win stopping 22/23 shots, and really started to find his form with his most impressive start of the season.

Game #4: vs. NSA

Win 3-2

Bridgton looked very good early and it was an indication that they were the better team against rival Nation Sports Academy as they played against each other 4 times on the season already. Bridgton leads the series now 3-1. Cray started his third game in a row, making several point-blank saves to keep the BA boys on top. He stopped a total of 18/20 shots. Bartlett broke out with an impressive game winning goal on a solo effort moving his feet through the neutral zone and beating opposing goalie just under the cross-bar. Menard scored with assists from Buckley and Burke as well as Donovan with assists from Bartlett and Albano.

Game #5: vs Boston Jr. Bruins

Loss 5-4

After an hour and half layover between games the BA boys showed a little sign of being tired as they played their 5th game in three days. Going down 4-2 with 13 minutes to play the coaching staff called for a time out to regroup. After a motivating speech from Coach Lounsbury the boys kept their heads high and battled back scoring two goals and owning the final 10 minutes forcing the game into overtime. After a scoreless over time the tournament format went into a 5 man shootout. BA had some good opportunities as Brad McGovern and Alex Bartlett both beat the goalie but rang their shots off the post. It came down to the final shooter as the Jr. Bruins scored the lone goal ending the very impressive run from the BA Jr. A hockey team. Cray had again his best, most impressive start of the season stopping 32/36 shots and 4/5 in the shootout. He has really established himself as the backbone of the team.

BA’s goals were contributed by Moore from Concannon, McGovern from Moore and Concannon, Bartlett from Donovan, and Spisso from Buckley.

Coach Lounsbury brought the team together at the end of the game/tournament and told his players he has never been more proud of their efforts and how well they played as a team, always sticking together.

Coach Travis was happy with the way the weekend turned out. “I am very proud of these young men, they stuck together and played five outstanding hockey games as a team. They should be very proud of themselves for their efforts and putting themselves on the map to the entire hockey world,” said Coach Travis.

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