The theme going into last night's game, round one of the South Regional vs Quincy, was to get past the Presidents and live to play another day. Yes that sounds incredibly obvious, but one year ago Medfield took their best record in program history into the playoffs and were bounced in the first round by Pembroke. All it comes down to at this time of year is survive and advance.
Quincy controlled the play early, but it was a Medfield power play that swung the momentum and more importantly the lead to the Warriors. A shot from up top by Jack Scannell pin-balled around off several players before hitting Ben Ruzzo in the head, deflecting off the post and past Quincy goalie Chris Doyle to give Medfield a 1-0.
The Warriors took the 1-0 lead into the dressing room after period one.
Minutes into the second frame, Justin Hirschfield scored the highlight-reel goal of the night. From the far side off the ice, he stick handled and inside-outed a Quincy defender before beating Doyle glove side to double the Medfield lead.
It didn't take long for Quincy to respond, as Brian O'Callaghan beat Medfield goalie Dan Graham over his glove with a well placed wrist shot that got the Presidents back in the game.
Scannell regained the two goal lead later in the frame on a shot from the mid slot. Not long after, Brett Thomas banged home a rebound off a shot from outside. It was only Thomas' second goal of the year.
Quincy made it a two goal game just over 30 seconds into the third on O'Callahan's second of the game, but not long after, Matt Treiber broke in and completely deked Doyle out and fired it into the back of a wide open net to make it 5-2.
Ben Ruzzo would add his second of the game on an empty net goal with around 2 minutes left.
Dan Graham was easily the player of the game for the Warriors. Time and time again he made key saves when the game was still very close. It was his first ever playoff appearance and win.
With the win, Medfield will advance to play Martha's Vineyard in the South Quarterfinals. The game will be Saturday night (6:00pm) at Asiaf Arena in Brockton.
No comments:
Post a Comment