Johnston-North Providence Boys Take Game Two, Advance to Finals

Cranston East overcame a pair of one-goal deficits March 12, but the co-operative Cougars of Johnston and North Providence topped the Thunderbolts, 3-2, in overtime to sweep the best-of-three semifinal series.

Junior Mackenzie Olink notched a pair of goals, including the game-winner, to send JNP on to the final round of the Division III tournament.

“Mack stepped it up tonight,” said JNP co-head coach Fred Morrison.

Olink catalyzed the Cougars’ attack with a short-handed goal during the first period, but it was his second goal of the game that gave the group of young men brought together from competeing towns reason to celebrate.

“They’re all rivals against each other,” said one of the Cougars’ three senior captains, Damon Ascenzi, referring to football teams from the neighboring towns of Johnston and North Providence. “We’ve got none of that. We laugh about it.”

JNP jelled as a co-operative unit to finish the regular season with 29 points, most in Division III. The No. 1 Cougars subsequently earned a first-round bye, and fourth-seeded Cranston East swept past a first-round series with Tolman to secure a semifinal meeting with JNP.

“I’ve been saying all year that we have a good shot to win the state championship. We just fell short,” said Cranston East head coach Paul Bessette.

Cranston East lost to JNP twice during the regular season, and the Cougars buried the Thunderbolts in a four-goal hole to take Game One of the semifinal series, 6-3, Friday in Smithfield. Saturday, the Cougars led, 1-0 after the first period at Cranston Ice Rink, but the Thunderbolts replied with a spirited effort during the second, 15-minute period.

“We had them on their heels. They were afraid of us there in the second period,” Bessette said.

“They knew we were coming after them and it showed the way they were playing. They were tentative. They weren’t on their game and we took it to them.”

Junior forward Kyle Hennessey negated Cranston East’s deficit with a wrist shot form the right wing, and the Thunderbolts’ sophomore net-minder, Dominic Dibiase, turned aside 10 shots during the second stanza to preserve the two-period stalemate.

“The kids didn’t quit. They didn’t quit,” Bessette said. “Last night they kind of tried to do too much to get the tie. Tonight, they just did what they had to.”

Dibiase made 32 saves Saturday, but JNP’s Ryan Rotondi scored an unassisted goal late in the third period to give the Cougars a 2-1 advantage. The Thunderbolts were forced to rally again if they hoped to force a Game Three.

“We wanted to play on Monday night and they gave everything they had,” Bessette said, referring to the date of a would-be Game Three.

Junior forward Kyle St. Jean did, in fact, prolong the Thunderbolts season with a game-tying goal, but the Cougars regrouped, and as they prepared to line up for the first overtime period, they said one word, in unison: “Family.”

“We’re just brothers, man,” Ascenzi said. “Nothing came in between us, we just fought for it. Everyone wanted it, right from the get-go. From November 23, ‘til this day right here. Now we’ve just got to finish it off.”

Junior goaltender Matthew Domaingue finished the game with 22 saves for JNP, and Olink potted the third and final goal, with an assist from senior captain Andrew Delicio, to clinch the Cougars’ victory.

The Cougars will go on to Providence College’s Schneider Arena, where they will meet the winner of another best-of-three series, featuring No. 2 Mt. Hope and third-seeded East Providence. The Huskies and Townies split their first two semifinal games, and will play a winner-take-all Game Three Monday in Portsmouth.

The Thunderbolts, meanwhile, can take pride in the accomplishments of a team that was thought to be on the verge of extinction not long ago.

“Cranston East isn’t going anywhere,” Bessette said. Three years ago, they wanted to cut the program, and here we are, almost making it to the state finals.”

The Division III Championship Series will begin Thursday, March 17 at PC.