Boys Hockey Team Loses Impressive Debut

The Thunderbolts of Cranston East rallied furiously Friday, erasing a two-goal deficit during the third period, but they could not overcome the cooperative unit representing Johnston and North Providence. The Cougars won, 5-3, in Smithfield.

"That team is predicted to be one of the top teams in the league," said East head coach Paul Bessette, referring to his Division III rival.  "We gave them everything we could.  The result isn't what I wanted, but the effort was there."

The Thunderbolts displayed impressive resilience throughout their first contest.  Trailing 1-0 during the initial period, freshman defenseman Tyler Donahay and senior forward Ryan Hyatt moved toward Cougars' net-minder Matthew Domaingue. Though they could not solve the goalkeeper, junior forward Robert Kuczek collected the rebound and pushed the pack between the posts at 5:36.

The Cougars did not take advantage of a first-period penalty shot to regain the lead, but they did score twice more prior to intermission, and skated toward the locker room after 24:00 with a 3-1 lead.

Hyatt recorded a pair of goals during the final stanza to negate the Cougars' margin. He beat Domaingue with an attempt from the left wing at 1:00, then moved to the right and scored again at 2:39. After registering his first without an assist, Hyatt needed help from Kuczek to score he second goal.

Hyatt sustained an injury thereafter, falling to the ice after a collision with two players, the boards and a wayward stick.  He recovered, but the Thunderbolts would not, after sophomore goalie Dominic Dibiase surrendered goals at 6:52 and 8:33. Dibiase did reject 18 attempts throughout the game.

"The kids have got to keep playing [with] the intensity that they played [with] tonight. If they carry that forward through the rest of the year, we're going to beat a lot of teams," Bessette said.