WESTFIELD – Johnathan Spear scored two goals, including the game winner early in the third period, to help the St Mary High School hockey team overcome Turners Falls, 3-2, late Friday night at Amelia Park Ice Arena.
Spear got the scoring started when he took a rebound off a Quinn Powers shot and beat Turners Falls goalie Brandon Bryant for an early 1-0 lead. Later in the first, Tanner Hart beat Bryant (36 saves) off a nice pass from Spear to extend the Saints lead to 2-0.
From there, it became a defensive battle as Bryant and St. Mary goalie Matt Brady (16 saves) stopped everything the teams threw at them.
After Turners Falls closed to 2-1, Spear again found the back of the net on an odd angled goal (and an assist from Matt King) to make it 3-1. Thirty-three seconds later, Turners made it 3-2 but again Brady and the Saints’ defense held the Indians at bay the rest of the way to give the home team the victory.
The win evened St. Mary’s record at 4-4 on the season. The Saints fell to 4-5 with an 8-1 loss to Amherst Saturday at Orr Rink. The Hurricanes jumped out to a 3-0, first-period lead, skated to a 5-1 lead in the second period, and tacked on three more goals in a 100-second span in the third.
Johnathan Spear scored the lone goal for St. Mary.
Westfield’s Mario Metallo pushes the puck up the ice against Wachusett Saturday at Amelia Park Ice Arena. (Photo by Bill Deren)
Whitman propels WHS
Westfield 3, Wachusett 2
Liam Whitman scored two goals, and Zach Jarvis had one to lead Westfield past visiting Wachusett Saturday.
Joshua Adams, Max Maggipinto, Sean Moorhouse, and Ryan Porter each had an assist for Westfield. Bombers’ goalie Cameron Parent collected 28 saves.
SWIMMING RESULTS
Bombers down Spartans
The WHS swimming and diving teams hosted boys and girls from East Longmeadow High School Friday afternoon. After 12 events each, both the girls and boys each chalked up a win, 124-60 and 89-85, respectively.
The Westfield girls outscored EL in 11 events and tied in only one.
Westfield opened with a win in the 200 Medley Relay with the team of Alexis Bradley, Rachel Charette, Hayley Jurczyk and Sara Russell, along with third place points for teammates Kate McCabe, Lizzie Fraser, Samantha Dolan and Georgia Seymour. The Bombers then swept the 200 Freestyle with Elizabeth Dion, Madi Robataille and Alexis Bradley taking first, second and third respectively to jump out to an early lead in the meet.
The Westfield girls went on to take first place in only four of the remaining eight individual events – Sara Russell (50 Freestyle), Rachel Charette (100 Butterfly), Kelsey Johnstone (100 Breaststroke) and Anoushka Sharma (in the grueling 500 Freestyle where fellow Bombers Madison Stinehart and Sarah Cotto followed in second & third to sweep this event).
However, Westfield claimed most of the second, third, and fourth-place finish points in all the individual events, and dominated the remaining two relay races.
In the 200 Free Relay, Rachel Charette, Samantha Dolan, Georgia Seymour and Sara Russell took first, while teammates Madi Robatialle, Lizzie Fraser and Annie Goyette took second, leaving only two points for the Spartan girls and outscoring EL 12-2 in this event.
Similarly, in the final event of the meet – the 400 Freestyle Relay – Westfield’s Madi Robataille, Madison Stinehart, Elizabeth Dion and Rachel Charette took first and teammates Kelsey Johnstone, Alexis Bradley, Annie Goyette and Kate McCabe took third to win that event 10-4.
While the girls win may have been more impressive, the boys’ meet was far more exciting as it was not decided until the last seconds of the final event.
Westfield outscored the visitors in five of the 12 events and tied in one more. Each team took first place in six events.
First-place finishes for Westfield included: Nicholas Rosso in both the 200 Individual Medley and the 100 Freestyle, Jay Wood in the 50 Freestyle, Lukas Stanton in 1 Meter Diving, Cole Viamari in the 500 Freestyle and the team of Jay Wood, Patrick Lurgio, Cole Viamari and Nicholas Rosso in the 200 Freestyle Relay.
Although East Longmadow took an early lead over the first three events, Westfield’s strength lay in the later events. After the seventh race (100 Butterfly), the Bombers had gained the lead and was maintaining a 5-10 point edge toward the end of the meet. However, Spartan boys remained in striking distance going into the final relay, where they could have won the meet if the Whip City athletes had not taken second place or better.
Westfield mustered enough speed to take second place to edge East Longmeadow 89-85.
In addition to the Bombers impressive first place wins, their coaching staff was quick to credit the role that swimmers Sam Cloutier, Liam Thomas, Gabe Centeno, Mat Cloutier, Adrian Ozulak and Patrick Orzulak played with critical points scored with second, third, fourth, and even fifth-place finishes in such a close meet. – Team Reports
