Norwood Boys' Hockey Falls to Marshfield in D-1 Tournament

In a nutshell, this is how the Norwood High ice hockey team's 4-0 loss to Marshfield in the Division 1 South tournament at the Asiaf Rink in Brockton.

First period? That was very good for the Mustangs as Norwood took the play to Rams, who scored late in the first period for a 1-0 lead. Marshfield's Ryan Collins carried the puck up the ice, crossing front of the cease before firing shot past Norwood sophomore keeper Jordan Davis.

"If we had got out there 0-0 in the first period, you never know what is going to happen," said Norwood head coach Bill Clifford."I thought we played well, we're a very good team."

Getting the score was a boost for the Rams.

"They controlled the first period and we were lucky to get that goal," said Marshfield head coach Dan Connolly.

You can also put the third period into the very good category as the Mustangs skated right with Marshfield and didn't give up a score.

Now for the problem frame for the Mustangs... the second period.

Just 1:24 into the frame, Collins scored again and the Rams were up, 2-0, with all of the momentum in their corner.

"We tried to battle back," said Clifford. "I give these kids a lot of credit. They fought through a lot of adversity. Coming down the stretch, we had a ton of injures and they just keep plugging away and got into the tournament and won a first round game.

"It could have gone either way tonight. I thought they did a great job."

Three minutes after he scored his second goal of the game, Collins finished off his hat trick at 4:22 mark with a short-handed goal for a 3-0 lead.

Then, junior forward Connor McLean closed out the scoring for the Rams at the 8:19 mark.

Once the Mustangs got behind, it was tough for them to get any shots by Marshfield senior goaltender Tom Milch, despite the efforts of Mark Maggio, Tyler Gover and Peter Kelly.

"Our goaltender made some big saves in the second period and in the third period," said Connolly. "He earned his shutout and made a lot of quality saves."

While Milch was blanking the Mustangs,the Rams were putting the game on ice.

"We starting getting on a roll," said Connolly. "We were getting a lot of good shots and opportunities."

Norwood did have the man advantage through the game as the Rams were whistled for eight penalties, including a double minor that gave the Mustangs a three-minute power play.

"You don't want to take that many penalties," said Connolly. "The good part was that the kids killed it off pretty well."

Norwood received a strong performance from sophomore goaltender Jordan Davis, who came up with several big saves to keep the Rams in the game.

"They have a very good goalie and their first line can score," said Connolly.

While Clifford would have liked to have seen his team being the one that is moving on, the loss to Rams didn't take away the success of the entire season. Norwood made the tournament with an 8-7-2 record before beating Brockton in the first tourney game.

"I'm happy for them," said Clifford. "They had a good year and they are a great bunch of kids. They came to practice every day and worked their tails offs. They came prepared every day. That's all you can ask for as a coach.

"There's a lot of pride (in the team). They are a great group of kids."