Rebels’ Hockey Skates Past Mariners

KINGSTON—The South Kingstown boys’ ice hockey team defeated Narragansett 6-2 Wednesday at Bradford R. Boss Ice Arena.

“I think that Narragansett played really well, [Cory] Durkin, [Sean] O’Connell and [Andrew] Morvan can wreak some havoc, and those three kids can play the game,” South Kingstown head coach Toby Gibbons said.  “We were expecting a good game, close game, we always do against Narragansett.”

After a fairly even 30 minutes of hockey, the Rebels broke the game open in the third period.

 “We just wanted to come out as five, as a unit, so that we could beat the zone by moving the puck east to west,” Gibbons said.  “We just asked them to believe in each other and keep firing.”

Freshman Chad Mitchell scored 3:50 into the period to give South Kingstown a two-goal advantage, and then junior T.J. Lynch followed by scoring three unanswered goals of his own.

“He’s been gripping his stick a little bit, he’s trying too hard, so I told him to stop gripping the stick and just let it happen,” Gibbons said of Lynch.

The Mariners, who dressed just 13 players for the game, appeared to run out of steam in the final period.

“I thought we battled the whole night, but you have six scratches going in that obviously affects you conditioning wise,” Narragansett head coach Chris Lussier said. 

After a scoreless first period, South Kingstown struck first on a goal from junior Brett Grimes, assisted by Lynch.  Narragansett quickly responded with a goal of their own however, with senior Sean O’Connell finding the back of the net.

“I just played relaxed, it was easy not having to worry about being down a goal, it was basically like playing 0-0 again,” O’Connell said.

Junior Jake Maione was able to give the Rebels a one goal lead at the end of the second though, sneaking in a goal just inside the left post from the left wing.

“I don’t think that the second goal really got to us, that third goal I could tell that underclassmen were kind of like the game’s out of reach,” O’Connell said.  “It’s a hockey game though, stuff like that happens and that’s where me and some of the other seniors try to step up and motivate them.”

Senior Cory Durkin scored the other Mariner goal, while sophomore Dolci Wagner had a solid game in net with 21 saves.

“I thought Dolci played fine, she’s kind of been thrown into the fire,” Lussier said.  “She’s the woman for the rest of the season, she’s who we have to finish out, and I thought she did well for herself.”

It has been a tough season for Narragansett, as they have lost several close games en route to their 2-10-2 record in Division-II South. 

“Going into tonight we had two choices we could have make, we could have rolled over before warm-ups even started or we could stick it out, show some character and play the way we played tonight,” Lussier said.

The Mariners will play the first of their final four game of the season Saturday when they travel to Thayer Ice Arena to take on Providence Country Day/Wheeler co-op at 7 p.m.

“This is the first time in seven years, since the first season, that we’re not going to be in the playoffs,” Lussier said.  “PCD’s on the bubble of getting in the playoffs, maybe try to play that spoiler roll and end out the season on a high note.”

The Rebels’ season has gone in just the opposite direction, and after losing four of their first five games have now won 11 of their last 12.

“We had some chemistry issues earlier,” Gibbons said.  “The competitiveness in practice has been better, and when you compete in practice it’s easier to compete in games.”

South Kingstown will look to keep its momentum going as it gets ready for playoffs Saturday when they take on Portsmouth High at the West Warwick Civic Center at 6:30 p.m.

BOYS ICE HOCKEY

South Kingstown 6, Narragansett 2

                                                1^st           2^nd          3^rd—Final

South Kingstown             0              2              4—6

Narragansett                     0              1              1—2

First Period Scoring: none. Penalties: N 1-2:00; S 2-4:00.

Second Period Scoring: S, Grimes (Lynch) 2:42, Maione (Zaroogian) 13:58; N, O’Connell 5:07.  Penalties: none.

Third Period Scoring: S, Mitchell 3:50, Lynch (Mitchell) 5:05, Lynch (Gulla) 9:40, Lynch 11:45; N, Durkin 14:04.  Penalties: S 1-2:00; N, 2-4:00.

Shots: S 27-23.  Saves: S, Hathaway 21; N, Wagner 21.