Thunderbolts put away Hurricanes 10-3

The Hurricanes from Warwick Vets were outmatched by the Cranston East Thunderbolts at Veterans Memorial Ice Rink on Saturday night. The Bolts left no doubt the entire night that they would prevail in the end, controlling the action and cruising to a 10-3 victory.

Both teams came into the game with a loss suffered on Friday night. East came out focused and dominated possession. Only three minutes into the game, junior Bob Kuczek received the puck off a deflection and fired the shot off a spin move, ripping the back of the net and the Bolts led 1-0.

Kuczek had an excellent night and he wasn't done scoring. Towards the end of the period during a scramble in front of the net, he found the puck and flipped it into the back of the net. Seniors Joe Esposito and Ryan Hyatt notched the assists on both goals.

The Hurricanes were able to put a goal on the board off of a lucky deflection. The puck bounced towards senior Chris Deignan, who the Cane's shining star, notching a hat trick, and he blasted it home, cutting East's lead to 2-1. The Bolts offense was dynamic the entire night and they responded with a goal of their own, 10 seconds later. Hyatt found himself in the right spot to get the puck and found the back of the net easily.

Neither team scored in the first parts of the second period. The Bolts were able to add a goal to their lead with about 3-and-a-half minutes left in the period. Kuczek once again found the back of the net, as he picked up the rebound and slid the puck into the wide open net upping the lead to 4-1. He finished the night with four goals and 1 assist.

In the third period, the Thunderbolts offense took control of the game with a scoring spurt. From 9:08 left in the game until 7:00, just over two minutes, East scored four goals and their lead now stood at 8-1. Sophomore Thomas O'Mara had a nice spin move for the 5^th goal and junior Christian Lynch made a breathtaking play on the 8^th goal for the Bolts. He made a diving pass across the ice to junior Evan Mancini who finished off the play with style blasting home the shot.

The Bolts added two more goals only 55 seconds apart, the second one coming at 2:04 remaining in the game. Deignan wouldn't go down without a fight and he scored two goals in the last two minutes of the game, to finish with a hat trick for the Hurricanes. The Thunderbolts won the game 10-3 and improve to 1-1 on the young season. Warwick Vets drops to 0-2 with the loss.

Bolts Head coach PJ Bessette was pleased with his team's effort.

"I told the kids to carry the effort over from last night," he said, "It was a true team effort."

Bessette said he believes that the team is listening well and starting to trust the coaches.

"They are starting to buy into the system we are teaching and they played good hockey tonight," he added.

Kuczek also credited the team's effort.

"The effort level was high," he said, "We came out flying here tonight."

What made him successful in the game?

"Their goalie is really good, but I buried every opportunity I got," he said.