Wildcats Claw Penguins 15-8
Under cold, cloudy and threatening skies in Ashburnham, MA, the Kimball Union Wildcats broke into the win column with a convincing performance over the Purple Penguins of Cushing Academy. Trailing early in the game by one, sophomore speedster Justin Wright (Waccabuc, NY) took a feed from junior attack man Jamie Schmidt (Shelburne, VT) and found Cushing twine to begin the afternoons’ offensive salvo on the Penguin defense. Co-captain Evan Roberts (West Cornwall, VT) finished nicely on a setup from Ryan Hayes (Darien, CT) to take a lead from which the Wildcats never surrendered. Roberts and Hayes teamed up again with 41 seconds left but the physical Penguins struck back with lightning speed to diminish the Wildcat lead to one goal when the horn sounded. Second period scoring opened at 11:39 with a goal by Schmidt who was assisted by Roberts. Scott Schachter (Rumford, RI) then scored his first goal of the season with another assist going to attack man Hayes. Cushing continued to play hard and scored their third goal of the game which was quickly answered by Roberts who scored in a set play situation which was initiated in the early stages by a strong drive by Ryan Henry (Norwood, MA). Again Cushing found Wildcat twine and again the Wildcats answered, this time with a goal from sophomore attack man Cody Danforth (Milton, VT) who scooped a ground ball and finished the play nicely to give the Black and Orange a 7-4 halftime lead.
The second half belonged to the Wildcats as midfielder David Robinson (Lexington, MA) opened the scoring unassisted in transition. Two minutes later attack man Scott Crawford (Mystic, CT) scored the ninth goal for Kimball Union with an assist going to Robinson. Roberts then struck again for his third goal of the game with yet another assist going to Hayes. The third period scoring ended with a flurry as Cushing scored at the 1:24 mark followed by another Robinson goal and Hayes assist for his fourth time in the game. The final period was all Wildcat as four more unanswered goals were scored by Danforth, sophomore Ben Wyskiel (Dover, NH) assisted by Danforth, Schmidt again from Robinson and Hayes with an assist to Roberts. The Wildcats scored once in four EMO opportunities while stopping Cushing’s EMO twice in four MDD situations. Kimball Union picked up 37 ground balls as compared to 18 for the Penguins. In the face off department, Matt Parker (Shelburne, VT) and Todd Rowley (Billerica, MA) teamed up with Roberts to win 75% of the contests at the center stripe.
The tone of the game was set throughout the afternoon by Robert Bleakley (Lexington, MA) who registered 14 saves between the pipes. Senior co – Captain Trevor McGraw (Meriden, NH) teamed up with Colin Young (Dedham, MA) and Brian Orr (Medford, MA) as they handled Cushing attack man and extended the Cushing offense out of their comfort zone. Andrew Richardson (Lancaster, MA) and Brent Bourgeois (New Haven, VT) supported at long stick middies while Nathan Plummer (Meriden, NH), Allen Abendroth (Sunapee, NH) and Garret Dyer (Williston, MA) contributed significantly with quality substitution minutes.
The Wildcats host the New Hampton Huskies next Wednesday in Meriden. The face off is scheduled for 4:00 pm.
