Bombardiers Hockey Comes Up Short Against North

The last time that the Attleboro High hockey team faced North Attleboro they struggled with the Rocketeers speed, hard-hitting, and raucous crowd. This time around the Bombardiers were focused on being solid defensively and it worked- for a period.

Three second period goals allowed North Attleboro to skate away with a 4-0 victory on Wednesday night at Aleixo Arena. The win completed a season sweep for North.

The first period flew by with almost no stoppages as the Bombardiers kept their forwards active in the defensive zone and trying to force the attackers for North wide of the goal. Although Attleboro was outshot 10-4 in the period they never looked in that much danger.

Just one minute into the second period North captain Brendan Burns changed the game when he found some space in the circle and fired a shot just under the crossbar. Six minutes later Jordan Picini made it two by skating through the entire Bombardier defense.

A tired and shorthanded Attleboro squad was finished off by a brilliant backhand from Billy McAuliffe, which made it 3-0. Coach Mike Cripps credited the Rocketeers tenacity for wearing down his team in the second period, “They don’t stop. They don’t have a lot of superstars but they’re a hard-working team. They wore us down.”

“We’re thin already and then you add on the flu,” noted Coach Cripps. “Even some of the guys that played are sick.”

The Bombardiers had two great chances to cut into the lead in the third period, both from Zach Dragun. With five minutes remaining Dragun skated by four North defenders and deked the goalie only to slide the puck across the face of the wide open net. Two minutes later he dragged a pass forward at the blue line and blasted a shot to the top corner of the net but was robbed by the quick glove hand of William Porter.

North (11-5-1) tacked on an empty net goal by freshman Sean Young with only 20 seconds remaining. Overall the Rocketeers outshot Attleboro 29-14. The Rocketeers qualified for the Division 2 playoffs for the first time in the program’s history and they will travel to Canton on Friday to take on Blue Hills.

Attleboro (3-10-2) still has hopes of qualifying for the postseason due to their record against Division 3 opponents. They will have four games against D3 teams next week and need to go 2-1-1 to earn a tournament berth. Before that they will face-off against King Philip on Saturday night at the Foxboro Sports Center.