WALPOLE, Mass. – When North Attleboro and Mansfield met the first time, the Hornets were missing junior goalie Chris Hormann and the Rocketeers took advantage to score seven goals. Hormann was back between the pipes on Saturday morning when the teams met again at Rodman Arena in the opening round of the Songin Cup and he came through with a big performance.
Hormann made 28 saves, including a penalty shot and a big stop on a third-period breakaway, helping Mansfield pull out a much-needed 4-1 victory that moves the Hornets closer to clinching a spot in the postseason.
“We knew coming in what they were all about,” said Mansfield coach Mike Balzarini. “They’re very structured, they’re very well-coached, and they just work hard. We knew if we could get pucks on net, crash the net, rebounds, then it would be a different game from the last time we played them.”
Mansfield got off to the perfect start. Mark DeGirolamo stepped up from the blue line and fired a wrist shot on net. North goalie Kyle Gruber was unsighted by bodies in front and the puck snuck into the top corner to make it 1-0 after just 90 seconds.
Kyle Oakley nearly doubled the Mansfield lead a few minutes later, but his wrap around was gobbled up by Gruber with Dillon Benoit waiting on the edge of the crease. Midway through the first, the Hornets did get a second. Freshman Ty Carroll flung a puck from the point that the North goalie didn’t see and it went in off the far post.
Only 15 seconds after the Hornets took a two-goal lead, North had the chance to get on the board with a penalty shot. Sam Clarke tried to beat Hormann on the glove side, but the Mansfield goalie came up with a big stop.
Liam Anastasia came close to making it 3-0 when he sent a knuckling shot towards goal that dipped at the last second and came back off the bar. North was struggling to get much going in the offensive zone (outshot 11-6 in the first) but Nik Kojoian set up Gavin Arabian for a rush down the right side and he forced Hormann into a good blocker save.
North was on its heels for most of the opening 15 minutes but the Rocketeers came out in the second with a different level of energy. Kojoian again was the creator of a good chance a few minutes in when his pass set up Mark Ayvzayan right in front. Hormann made the pad stop, but Ayvzayan also drew a penalty on the play.
The Rocketeers went to work with the extra skater and halved the deficit when Anthony Westcott’s diagonal pass picked out Nick Longa alone at the far post. Hormann somehow got across to get a pad on the first attempt and managed to get a piece of the second shot as well. The puck bounced to the edge of the crease and Brady Sarro was there to knock it into the empty net.
Gruber came up big just a minute later to keep North within one. Oakley got behind the North defense but Gruber closed the pads to deny the first chance and then stayed tall to save the follow-up attempt by Benoit as well. Carroll had a shot from the point that Brayden Purtell tipped in front but Gruber flung out a pad at the last second to keep it out.
North kept pressing. A bad bounce off the end boards gifted Kojoian with a good opportunity but Hormann was in good position to make the save. Sarro was then left wide open in the right wing circle, but his one-timer was gloved by the Hornets netminder.
“I think the speech in the locker room between the periods lit a fire under them and I think they responded and I thought we carried the play in the second,” said North coach Kyle Heagney. “His goaltender played outstanding, stood on his head. We had some chances in the third and we didn’t capitalize on them and Mansfield did.”
It felt like the Rocketeers went into the second intermission with momentum, but it was the Hornets that came out on the front foot. Mansfield held North to just one shot on target through the first 10 minutes of the third period.
Ryan Doherty had a good early look with a snap shot off a face-off, forcing Gruber into a good stop. Four minutes into the third, Mansfield restored its two-goal lead. Declan Foley’s angled pass from the point picked out Oakley all alone at the back post and the senior forward buried his chance to make it 3-1.
As time started to wind down in the third, North started pressing to try and get back into the game. Arabian’s shot from the point was touched inches wide by Sarro in front and Joe Quinn had a nice rush down the left wing but sent a shot (possibly off a defenseman’s stick) narrowly wide of the top corner.
North’s best chance came with four minutes to play. Sarro took advantage of a poorly timed change to break in alone, but Hormann flashed the glove to keep the lead at two. Only 30 seconds later, Mansfield put the game away and picked up a valuable margin of victory bonus. Carroll hit Benoit in stride down the middle and the forward roofed his shot, giving Gruber no chance, to make it 4-1.
“We had a bad a change and it was a legit 3-on-0, so Patrick Gormley owes him 100 percent,” Balazarini joked about the lead up to North’s breakaway opportunity. “I thought we played well in the defensive zone, getting out to the points. We were 3-for-4 in penalty kills, so that’s huge.
Heagney added, “I give Mansfield all the credit in the world. They came out and took it to us, won puck races all over the ice. We were flat and they outplayed us.”
Mansfield (7-9-1) will get a rematch with rival King Philip on Monday in the Songin Cup final, after the Warriors beat Walpole in a shootout. North Attleboro (9-9-1) will face the Rebels in Monday’s consolation game.
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