Mt. Hope Subdues East Providence 4-0 in Semifinal Hockey Series

Mt. Hope High School evened their RIIL Division Three semifinals series with East Providence at one each with a 4-0 whitewash at Dennis Lynch Arena in Pawtucket on Saturday night.

Gian DiMezza scored twice, Ed Botelho had a goal and three assists and Justin Correia had a goal and two assists to lead the way for the Huskies. Goalie Matt Wilson had 24 saves in recording the shutout.

 The encounter between the two rivals first tilted in the Townies’ favor after the opening faceoff.  Intense forechecking kept the puck in the Mt. Hope end for sustained stretches at first. But East Providence shots often went awry or were steered away before sometimes reaching the net.

In a game filled with muscle tussles, grappling, holding, checking, falls to the ice and lots of penalties- 50 minutes in all and mostly for illegal activity around the net- Mt. Hope benefited the most. 

Overall, the Townies were assessed 10 penalties overall, or 38 minutes overall, including 26 minutes in the final period, with two misconducts. Mt Hope had six penalties for 12 minutes overall.

“We had a plan and stuck to the plan,” said Huskies head coach Matt Grieve. “We had a few more penalties than we’d like to take but what helped us that they took a few more penalties than we did.”

“They outplayed us entirely,” added Amore. “Except or the first six or seven minutes, they outworked us, ‘out-physicalled’ us, they ‘out-everythinged’ us. Then we shut down. We did not have good wind or a good sustained effort.”

With 15.8 seconds left inthe opening period, Botelho struck first on an assist by William Egge.

But after the faceoff, Townies junior center Ryan Barry broke loose on the left side. Deftly handling the puck and with time ticking down, Barry got past one Huskies defender and deked another before heading to the net from left to right. A backhander from seven feet out was ruled to be too late.

In the second period, DiMezza scored his first goal by picking up a loose puck and quickly pivoting to wrist in a 15-footer for a 2-0 lead.

Eventually, the Huskies would put the game away with power play goals. Also in period two, Justin Correia, on a pass from Botelho, teed up the puck before blasting the puck in from 25 feet.

Then DiMezza added his last goal in the last period, another man advantage opportunity and again assisted by Botelho and Correia.

The Townies were also out of synch offensively for another reason. “We tried to juggle lines without Trevor Medeiros,” said Townies head coach Gregg Amore of his senior star wing. "He tried to play, but he has some kind of shoulder injury. He’s our most physical guy and we needed him.”

Meanwhile, Huskies goalie Matt Wilson was steady and rock solid around net. Despite all the activity inside, he stopped all 25 shots that came his way. Townies goalie John Andrews had 20 saves.

The deciding game of the series will be played at at 7 p.m. on Monday, March 14, at Portsmouth Abbey. Both teams have split four games, each winning on their rival’s home ice.

“What we did for the first six or seven minutes tonight we’ve got to that for all three periods on Monday,” said Amore.

“It was a rough game, but we put what happened behind us and move on,” said Grieve. “We will be ready to play well on Monday.”

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