Portsmouth High School Hockey Loses 4-2 to Coventry in State Finals

For the first time in eight years, Coventry has captured the RIIL Division II boys' hockey state championship, prevailing over Portsmouth, 4-2, behind two breakaway goals by series MVP Nick Paiva.

Brian Skorski and Seamus Fennelly netted a goal each in the Oakers' favor to secure the win.

Coventry still had to survive a late Portsmouth onslaught to win its second state hockey title ever. The new state champs outscored their three playoff opponents 20-9 in completing a six-game postseason sweep.

“We won because of our overall depth and (we) put a lot of players on the ice,” said Coventry head coach Ken Bird. “We had five high-quality seniors, several very good juniors and nine sophomores who developed a lot faster than I thought they would, and they played a key role.”

The Oakers jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period with help from two players scoring their first postseason goals.

On a three-on-two rush by an all-sophomore line, Skorski eventually scored out in front with a backhander, in tandem with Zach Allen and Jacob Harrington. Less than three minutes later, Fennelly scored from the front of the cage, assisted by Corey Rogers, as the Oakers completed the first 15 minutes with a 7-3 shot advantage.

The Patriots picked up the pace at the start of the second period, including a Chris Oliveira breakaway that was broken up 20 feet away from net on a poke check by Fennelly.

Just three minutes into the second period, the Oakers went ahead, 3-0, when Paiva received a pass from Zach Cooney, broke out from the pack on the right, glided in toward goal and flicked a measured shot to the upper left.

Portsmouth, still pressing to get on the board, could not capitalize on its first power play opportunity in the third period. Coming out from the bench directly after the penalty ended, Paiva gathered in the puck, broke though from center ice and then flipped a backhanded shot past Patriots goalie Matt Maggiacomo from just outside the crease.

But the Patriots refused to go down easily. Just 11 seconds after the Oakers celebrated their fourth goal, Pats forward Matt Abraham scored in front to give the Patriots a glimmer of hope.

The Portsmouth crowd erupted just 25 seconds afterwards. With the Patriots scrambling to get back into the contest, and with Chris Oliveira and Kyle Alvanas working hard behind the net, Henry Lang gained possession and blasted a 15-foot shot on the left past Oakers goalie Spencer Patti for the Patriots' second goal.

Even when Aaron Towers received a game misconduct with 5:30 minutes left and Matt Abraham was called for a penalty with 1:29 to go, the short-handed Patriots refused to yield. There were at least three near-misses that could have cut the deficit.

With just a minute left, Patti had a point-blank shot ricochet off his pads. The puck bounced a few feet in the air and just in front of goal before Patti, on his back, secured the black disk.

“We held a team that averaged five goals a game to just four in two games,” said coach Bird. “Alex Zannella, Zach Faria, (brothers) Peter and Joey Stringfellow,  Zach Cooney and Matthew Tanksley on defense deserve a lot of credit.”

The Oakers coach reserved a dose of praise for MVP Paiva and standout netminder Patti.

“Nick Paiva is an outstanding player and student, number three in his class,” added Bird, “but (Spencer) Patti could have easily shared MVP honors because he came up with several saves when he had to.”

Despite a slow start, Portsmouth ended up outshooting Coventry, 20-19.

In reaching the finals for the second straight year, the Portsmouth head coach Matt Monahan praised his squad, the 2010 Division Two state champions, for their season-wide effort.

“We did everything we could against a team that did a little more than we did,” said Monahan. “Coventry really came out flying and their transition game and odd-man rushes were explosive. But we still had our chances even after our top scorers got penalties."

Monahan offered positive words for his hard-working squad.

"I am proud of what we accomplished and everyone left it all on the ice," the Patriots coach said. "I never had to worry about what any of our players did on the ice or in the classroom.”

Oakers coach Bird credited the Portmouth squad and their coach with great effort.

"I tip my hat to coach Monahan,” said Bird. “I know how they feel after we lost last year (in the semis). He does a great job with that team."