Friday, February 11, the 11-1-2 North Kingston Boys Varsity Ice Hockey team hosted the 7-5-1 Rogers/Middletown/ Rocky Hill Boys Varsity Ice Hockey team in an epic #1 seed versus #2 seed hockey game at Boss Arena on the campus of URI. The last time these two teams met was the end of January, NK left the rink that day with a big 4-1 W.
C/O to Jack Ogilvie
NK came into this game with a must win mentality, coming off of their 9 game win streak, the word loose was not allowed in their locker room.
RMR warmed up for this game with laser focus and intensity, as they needed this game to go better than their last game against St. Raphael Academy, where they lost 6-3.
The puck dropped at 5:00pm and both teams and benches had a lot of energy.
NK won the initial face off, which was foreshadowing of how the first period was going to go.
NK possessed the puck for the first 5 minutes of the game but was unable to find any shot or goal opportunities, this all changed with 6 minutes and 8 seconds left on the clock when Senior Captain Max Proulx scored an unassisted goal from the right circle. NK leads 1-0.
Not long after with 4:01 on the clock Jake Rodger netted a breakaway slapshot right over the goalkeeper's glove. NK grew their lead to 2-0.
The second period started with some hope for RMR as they started off with a 2 minute power play, but unfortunately they were unable to capitalize.
At 10:35 NK’s Ronan Gatley scored on a fast break making the score 3-0 .
Between 10:19 and 9:46 NK rattled off three more penalties, making it 5 v. 3 hockey for a couple minutes. The NK defense did their job with the help of goalie Braedon Perry standing on his head to end the power play with no goals allowed.
With 5:34 left in the second period, RMR Jonathan Lopes scored the first goal for the team on a breakaway making the score 3-1.
About two minutes later NK sophomore Owen Tegan scored a quick goal off of a faceoff. The excitement from Owen was clear as he had a big smile on his face while “hitting the Griddy” in front of his bench to celebrate the goal. NK 4 RMR 1 at the end of the second period.
The third Period Belonged to the skippers, scoring for the second time was Jake Rodger just over two minutes into the period.
At 7:20, Tim Coleman scored off of a rebound, NK leads 6-1.
The final goal of the game came from Max Proulx with two and a half minutes left in the game, his second goal.
The Final buzzer went off and the North Kingstown Skippers were victorious yet again, beating RMR 7-1.
After the game ended I was able to speak to the Head Coach of the Skippers Coach Sellers. When asked how he thought his players played today, he responded “when you look at the scoreboard, and look at how much effort our guys put in, what more can you ask for?” This optimism is true as it is tricky to complain about a 7-1 Victory.
I also got the opportunity to speak with NK’s stud goalie from today's game, Braedon Perry. He stated that he was very pleased with how his team played and that ”this was the first time we really exploded on offense, it was a lot of fun to see some of our younger bench guys get in and score some goals”.
This victory makes NK 12-1-2 and they remain in 1st place in the league.
- Jack Ogilvie
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