Sports
Mt. Hope High School Beats East Providence in Hockey Semifinals
Mt. Hope outscored East Providence 5-2.
, behind a hat trick and assist from Gian DiMezza, and a goal and assist by Ed Botelho, broke the deadlock in the final period with three goals to defeat East Providence, 5-2, in the best-of-three RIIL Division Three semifinals at Portsmouth Abbey.
Tied at 2-2 entering the final session, Mt. Hope regained the lead on a 20-foot power play goal by Chris Dugan on a nifty pass by Justin Correia.
DiMezza then scored twice more, first on a power play goal and then on a breakaway with 1:37 left for an empty-netter to sew up the contest in their second straight win of the series.
Both goalies were tested several times with East Providence senior netminder John Andrews making 24 saves and Matt Wilson, Huskies freshman goalie, forced to come up with 39 stops.
Andrews halted two breakaways and in the third period, dove head first to the ice to snuff out a possible goal by DiMezza, who had cleverly woven into the crease with the puck.
Wilson weathered constant threats all night, and after the Townies scored their last goal, teamed with the defense to keep East Providence scoreless for the last 21:30.
The Townies got off to a good start when Matthew Hall took a shot from the point and brother Kevin Hall tipped in the puck on the rebound.
But despite several near-misses on shots or rushes on goal, Kevin Hall would be frustrated the rest of the night.
DiMezza tied the score for Mt. Hope with an assist going to Botelho at 9:17
In period two, the teams traded exchanged goals again.
East Providence took a 2-1 advantage when Kyle Walmsley capitalized on a poor clear by the Huskies defenseman and scored by wheeling around and wristed in shot, assisted by Josh Larocca.
Just 33 seconds after an East Providence penalty, Correia, on passes from Botelho and DiMezza, combined on their first power play.
“We played much better than we did the other night,” said Townies head coach Gregg Amore. "But when they scored the fourth goal that was really the game.”
Amore said the Huskies were very effective on the power play. “We had allowed just three goals when we shorthanded all year, but they scored more than that during this series. “We just couldn’t keep up with the movement of the puck.”
The Townies outshot the hosts, 41-29, and pressed the attack early on in the third period.
But Wilson responded with several key stops and continued to keep the puck from getting into net. “What a game he had,” said Huskies head Grieve of his freshmen goalie.
”We just couldn’t seem to find the net and it was anybody’s game going into period three,” said Grieve. “That was a big mistake on their part in getting that five-minute penalty,” he added, of a boarding major accessed against a Townies player. "That was the theme of this series- a lot of penalties.”
“East Providence could have easily won that game,” said Grieve. “It was a really satisfying win and an exhausting series.”
Mt. Hope, the #2 seed, now meets top seed, Johnston/North Providence Co-op, in the Division Three State Championship best-of-three series on Thurs., March 17 at 6 p.m. at Schneider Arena on the Providence College campus. They split two games during the regular season.
