Cougars Start Title Defense With Win Over Tolman, 4-1

Just under eight months since their Division III state championship victory, the Johnston-North Providence Cougars returned to the ice, minus nine seniors from the title-winning team, and won their first league game of the new season, 4-1, over Tolman at Smithfield Municipal Ice Rink on Dec. 2.

Cougar Coach Dave Accetturo, who won a state title for Johnston in 1996, spoke before the game about the 2010-11 team’s accomplishment.

“It’s something to be very proud of, looking back on your life, 10, 15 years down the road, to be able to say, ‘Hey I won a state championship,’” Accetturo explained. “It was something that was definitely earned by those guys last year.”

Friday night, the Cougars debuted a quicker offense and potent scoring lines.

“We lost a big group of seniors last year, and the kids who are stepping in are playing fast, hard hockey,” coach Fred Morrison said following the game, noting the 10-4 margin of Tolman penalties to Cougar infractions. “We’re drawing the penalties this year instead of getting penalties. It’s a different dynamic to our team this year.”

Senior left winger Robert Tonucci led off the Cougars’ scoring with a chip-in from the right of Tolman netminder Stephane Meunier at 7:37 of the first period, and sophomore Nick Fournier jammed in a second Cougar score at 11:21.

Sophomore Stephen Morrison tallied a third goal for the home squad at 4:50 of the second period after settling down a cross-ice pass from Tonucci to Meunier’s left and flipping the puck into the net.

Tolman turned up its physical play, with Jared Pedro getting the lone goal past J-NP’s senior goalie Matt Domaingue at the 7:51 mark.

“Once we scored two, I felt good about where we were at in the game, as far as effort [and] as far as execution and then, once we put the third goal in and we went up 3-0, the message in the locker room was the game wasn’t over,” Accetturo explained during a post-game interview. “We had 12 more minutes — we say '12 more miles' — and we were cautious about not letting them get momentum. Then they scored that goal, and we came right back and took the momentum back from them.”

The Tigers also scored a few hits on Johnston, including a collision between Tolman’s Brandon Speight and the Cougars’ Fournier that left the J-NP sophomore prone on the ice for a few moments.

Fournier returned to action after the team’s trainer checked him for signs of concussion and found none.

“I didn’t think it was a dirty hit,” Accetturo said. “Our player hit him, and it was just a collision. [Speight] is a big kid and it was just a collision. It wasn’t anything dirty or anything like that.”

Tolman racked up five minor penalties to the Cougars’ one in the third period and gave J-NP a brief 5-on-3 opportunity.

Johnston-North Providence finished off the game with an empty-netter by freshman Jon Alsfeld with 16 seconds remaining.

“Tonight was a big test for us,” Accetturo said. “I thought we responded well — we were very disciplined tonight and didn’t take any stupid penalties.”

Accetturo also noted Domaingue’s performance between the pipes, making 21 saves against the Tigers.

“Matt played a great game. He’s really a fantastic goalie. He rises to the occasion, and I thought tonight he was solid — he’s going to be the backbone of our team this year, and if he plays the way he played tonight, we’re going to have a lot of wins this year.”

Next up for J-NP is tonight’s scheduled 7 p.m. game hosting Woonsocket.

“This year they have new coaches and a new team, so we’re not going to take them lightly by any means, but we’ll be ready for them and we’ll try to make it a 2-0 weekend,” Accetturo said.