Wildcats Ready for Tournament Run

Even after stumbling to a three-game losing streak to close out the regular season, boys hockey coach Pat Noonan remains quite optimistic of his team's chances regarding a tournament run.

After suffering a tough 2-1 defeat to Wellesley on senior night last Monday, the Wildcats battled to a hard fought 2-1 loss to top-ranked Woburn in Wednesday’s first round of the Irish American Tournament. In Friday’s consolation match-up against Westford Academy, the Wildcats trailed 3-0 through the end of the first period and never recovered en route to a 7-3 season ending defeat.

As a result, the Wildcats finished the regular season with a 10-10-2 mark, and will most likely emerge as one of the lowest seeds in the Division 1 South tournament. Following Monday night’s Super 8 play-in contests, the Division 1 brackets will be released Tuesday morning with the Wildcats likely to return to the ice either Wednesday or Thursday night.

“We’re probably going to be on the road, and there’s no doubt we’re going to be one of the lowest seeds,’’ said Noonan. “But the tournament is a brand new season and everyone is 0-0 and it doesn’t really matter what you’re record is. It’s a clean slate for us, and we’re ready to go whenever the first game may be.”

Leading the way for the Wildcats is first line forward Paul Curran, whose led the Wildcats in scoring with a team high 22 points (11-11-22). Also contributing on the offensive end is second line forward Terence Walsh, who’s chipped in with 20 points (4-16-20).

“One thing that we really have to work on is finding different ways to score goals,’’ said Noonan. “We’ve been having some problems the last few games with our offensive production. Our defense and goaltending have been spectacular, but we have to find ways to score at least two goals a game.”

Other key assets for the Wildcats include Robbie O’Neil, Will Russo along with senior co-captain Jack Davis followed by Brian Higgins and Derek Hurley.

“We feel like we have two solid scoring lines, but we just have to finish off our scoring chances,’’ said Noonan. “We’ve been in a lot of games this season, but at times we’ve just had trouble putting the puck in the net. If we find different ways to generate some offensive production, then I think we’ll be fine in the tournament.”

Defensively, the Wildcats will be led by senior co-captain Kevin Lamere along with Will England, Dan Curran, Liam Killeen and Allen Lasoff.

“On defense, we’ve put together some solid lines, and we’ve managed to keep the puck out of our end for the most part,’’ said Noonan. “We haven’t made many mistakes with puck possession, but we also have to score as well.

Minding the net has been the stellar play of junior goaltender Jay Hankard, who’s registered an impressive 2.40 goals against average.

“Jay has been playing great the past few games, and he’s been averaging over 30 saves a game,’’ said Noonan. “He’s kept us in a lot of games this season, and he’s one of the reasons why we’re here in the tournament.”

As for expectations, Noonan is hopeful that a season ending three-game losing streak won’t deter a deep run in the Division 1 South tournament for the Wildcats.

“We’re hoping we can put things together and make a run at it,’’ said Noonan. “Our goaltending has been great and our defense has been outstanding. Our offense has to come through for us and we have to score more consistently. We’re the only team standing right now at Milton, and we’re hoping that we’ll be able to get a nice fan base when the tournament starts up again.”

In last Monday’s season home finale’s 2-1 loss to Wellesley, the Wildcats trailed 2-0 before Hurley broke the ice, trimming the lead to 2-1 midway through the second. Hankard stopped 35 shots.

In Wednesday’s 2-1 defeat to Woburn, the Wildcats trailed 2-0 before a Brian Higgins goal closed the lead in half. Hankard once again delivered an impressive performance, stopping 32 shots in the losing effort.

In Friday’s 7-3 defeat to Westford Academy, Lamere led the Wildcats with two goals while O’Neill also added a tally.