Mansfield Boys Hockey Skate Past Attleboro, 6-3

The Mansfield boys ice hockey team beat Attleboro, 6-3, Wednesday in a grudge match at the Foxboro Sports Center.

Mansfield outshot Attleboro, 34-16, but shots on goal do not necessarily denote how many shots were taken. Attleboro tried many more times, but Mansfield’s defense stepped up and block most of the shots before they got to goalie Christian DeBeauport.

“That’s their job,” Mansfield head coach Rick Anastos said. “Everybody contributed.”

Mansfield and Attleboro went at it for the first period, with neither teams able to score. Each team had a power play for that period, but could not capitalize on it.

“I was very pleased with our effort,” Attleboro head coach Mike Cripps said. “That was one of our more consistent games I thought from start to finish. The effort was there.”

Mansfield out shot Attleboro by just four shots on goal, a number that change drastically in the second period.

“We had the first period blues,” Anastos said. “We can’t seem to score in the first period of any game.”

Mansfield and Attleboro duked it out for the first six minutes of the second period. Attleboro couldn't capitalize on a power play early in the second. The game remained scoreless until Brendan Murphy scored at 8:27 assisted by Dylan Burns.

Attleboro did not answer as Mansfield’s Will Kelleher scored at 3:24 assisted by Steve Folan. Not 20 seconds later, Jason Collins followed up and scored at 3:01 assisted by Bryan Hurley and Michael Blackman.

Mansfield struck again during an Attleboro power play when Steve Folan got one by, assisted by Bryan Hurley. The second period ended 3-0 Mansfield.

“We started slow and came out strong in the second period,” Anastos said.

The third saw a change in Attleboro’s aggressiveness. Like the first period, Attleboro was holding Mansfield for a time, and even managed to score two goals before Mansfield could answer back.

Tyler Dutremble scored Attleboro’s first goal of the night at 12:35 and another from Zack Dragun assisted by Jake Reynolds.

Mansfield’s Cam Neary struck back to strengthen Mansfield’s lead to 5-2. AJ Callahan scored his first goal of the season two and a half minutes later to bring Mansfield to a comfortable lead with 5:38 left to go in the game. Attleboro struck back again with a shot from Kevin Bacchiocchi, assisted by Mitchell Whittingham, but with only a minute left in the game.

“I’m happy about the game because I got everybody involved,” Anastos said. “Kids that have been working hard at practice all year long got a chance to play.”

Mansfield was able to play more players than Attleboro, and it showed during the second period when Attleboro started to get tired and let a few too many fast breaks go by.

“They beat us on line changes,” Cripps said. “They wore us down a bit, we played two line and third every once in a while and [Mansfield] is able to skate four lines, so he definitely wore us out towards the end.”

Mansfield is currently 11-1-1 and will play North Attleboro away on Saturday. Attleboro is currently 3-8-2 and will play Franklin Saturday.