Sunday, December 29, 2013

Hockey Reigns in MSC Holiday Face-off; Basketball Splits in BABC

Our hockey team is rrrooolllliiinnnnnn'...or, maybe, speed-skating over their competition.
Still unbeaten in Rhode Island Interscholastic play, the Hawks ventured up to the home of the Mounties - Adelard Arena in Woonsocket - to take part in the loaded field of teams in the Mount St. Charles Holiday Face-Off. In addition to the Hawks, teams that made their way to northern RI to go head-to-head with other hockey powers were Franklin High School (Mass.), Bishop Guertin (NH), Fairfield Prep (CT), St. Joseph's (NY), and LaSalle College High School (Penn.), as well as our two major rivals here in RI, LaSalle Academy and the host of the tournament, the Mounties.
Last night, the Hawks skated off the Mount's home ice with the tournament title in hand. In the first round, our guys came from behind and took out 15-time Connecticut state champion Fairfield Prep, 4-3,on Jamie Armstrong's goal in the final minute of play. From there they advanced to the semi-final round, where they found archrival LaSalle Academy waiting for them. Led by Reilly Miller's hat trick and Pat Creamer's three assists, our guys controlled the game and dispatched the Rams, 6-3. Four of those six goals came in the first period, two of them by Miller. Photo galleries of the games in rounds 1 & 2 can be found HERE
and HERE.
In the championship game, the Hawks took a 3-0 lead and held off St. Joseph's Collegiate High School, 4-3. Andrew Fera's power-play goal early in the final period proved to be the difference, and other Hawks' goals were scored by Brandon Waterman and Bryce Dolan. The photo gallery of the final game can be found HERE.
So far, the initial returns on Coach Creamer's bunch are pretty strong - unbeaten in league play and some serious hardware (including Andrew Fera's being named tournament MVP) from the holiday season.

As team member Brandon Mitchell tweeted out last night,


Meanwhile, up in Roxbury, Massachusetts, our basketball team was competing in the Boston Amateur Basketball Classic, where the Hawks would face some serious competition.  In the first game, the Hawks took on Dorchester (Mass) High School and fell behing by nine by halftime.  The second half was a different story, however, as the Hawks scored 39 points and put the defensive clamps down and came away with an impressive 58-51 win.  Our guys were led by Chris O'Brien's 14 points and 12 from Ira Lough and EJ Nygren.

In their second game (broadcast live right here on The Network)the Hawks seemed to control the four minutes at the beginning and end of the game. Between those bookmarks, however, Windsor (CT) High School used their speed and offensive rebounding abilities to control the game, taking as much as a 17-point lead in the second half.  The Hawks finished strong, but in the end they simply ran out of time in a 66-57 loss.  All in all, though, the Hawks looked good against such strong competition and hope to take some increased confidence back home to Rhode Island.

The entire first half of the game against Windsor can be seen right here, and the second half is available at the top of the page in the main UStream viewer.

Video streaming by UstreamThe Hawks take on Smithfield next, Monday night at 7pm at Pepin Gym.  That game will be broadcast live right here on The Network.
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