Canton Boys Ice Hockey Out Shot In Road Loss

Out-shot and outscored, the boys hockey team was unable to beat host Lincoln-Sudbury on Wednesday

Putting half as many shots on goal as its opponent, Canton lost 3-1 to host L-S at New England Sports Center in Marlborough.

“They out worked us, out hustled us, and out smarted us,” said . “I thought that our guys would show a little more fire and energy. Overall we played a team that had a lot more heart tonight.”

Three total goals within three minutes in the first period would decide the game. With the score tied at zero, L-S's Nate Gyory manged to slap in a center ice goal off a front of the net screen from teammate Devin Patel (both juniors).

Cutting behind the net, Warriors sophomore David Hall slipped the puck through the legs of Patel and to Gyory for the assist at 6:31.

“The first goal by Nate Gyory was great shot,” said L-S coach Peter Elenbaas. “But it was made possible by two guys really crashing the net and screening the goalie.”

Thirty five seconds later, Warriors junior Colin DeFrancesco forced another goal. With the warriors pressuring the net off a shot, a ricocheted puck caught Canton sophomore goalie Richard Nee off guard.

DeFrancesco managed to cut around the crowd and to other side of the net for an open goal.

“You need areas near the crease where it is a battle and it is not a pretty goal,” said Elenbaas. “We have not been scoring enough of those. Tonight we had good screens and good traffic.”

Facing their first man advantage of the game, the Bulldogs responded with a goal from sophomore Mike Denehy at 3:49. With senior teammate and captain Greg Boyd cutting with the puck behind the net, Denehy manged to find an opening in front of the goal.

Boyd hit Denehy with a pass and the sophomore finished opposite side to bring the score to 2-1.

“To pull back in a game where we had three shots on net in the first period was huge,” said Shuman. “I was hoping in the second period we would show a little more energy, but the second period was unfortunately more of the same.”

Following the Bulldogs only goal, the Warriors forced seven unanswered saves from Nee and had a shots on goal advantage of 21 to 10 for the remainder of the game.

L-S's next goal came at 6:07 in the second period with a behind the net pass from DeFrancesco. Receiving the puck opposite the pass and in front of goal, L-S sophomore Shane Sefton manged to reverse his shot back to the pass side to put the Warriors up 3-1.

“Colin carried the puck behind the net on a cycle, looked off the Canton guys, and passed it back door to Shane Sefton,” said Elenbaas. “We told the guys if you go hard to the net and get the dirty goals then the pretty ones come. It kind of worked out that way with the third goal.”

Junior Matt Malloy forced two near efforts for Canton in the third period. The first a quick shot off a face off and the second a low center effort just barely smothered by L-S senior goalie Peter Kramer.

The Bulldogs got another minute and a half power play at 4:33 in the third period, but were unable to produce more than one light shot as the Warriors cleared most of their efforts.

“We were trying to gain possession first, because you can not score on a power play without gaining possession,” said Shuman. “Lincoln-Sudbury did a good job of beating us to puck.”

L-S finished with a shots on goal advantage of 26 to 13. Kramer had 12 saves with a 92.31 save percentage, while Nee had 23 saves with a 88.46 save percentage.

“It was a 10-1 performance if Richy (Nee) was not in net,” said Shuman. “He was our lone bright spot for that game.”

L-S improves to 7-5-1 overall, while Canton drops to 10-2-1. With both teams playing on Saturday, L-S will host Haverhill High (4-9-1, 0-6-1), while Canton will travel to Hanover High (3-10-2, 1-8-2).