CANTON, Mass. – With less than two minutes remaining and Canton leading Tuesday afternoon’s game at the Metropolis Rink by a goal, Mansfield/Oliver Ames senior Sam Ledin gained the blue line at speed and fired a shot from the high slot. The puck sailed past a defender’s leg, past the goalie’s blocker, and off the inside of the post, somehow caroming straight across the goal line and out the opposite side.
The Hockomock League introduced girls hockey four years ago (prior to that teams played in the SEMGHL) and the title race has been competitive each season. Canton, which has won three of the four league championships, including the last two, got the bounce of the puck it needed to open its title defense with a 3-2 victory.
“We’ve been through a lot and we haven’t talked about what has gone wrong, we’ve just kind of banded together,” said Canton coach Dennis Aldrich. “It was a good team win. This was not an easy game. We struggled to get pucks through. But, the girls got the win and I’m just really, really happy for them and hopefully we can build on that.”
MOA has dropped its first two games by a combined two goals, after losing to Bishop Feehan in overtime in the season opener. First-year coach Jamie Mullen sees signs that her relatively young team is on the verge of picking up the first win of the season.
“We’re right there,” she explained. “We need to finish, to dig deep, and find that last play to finish it off. And we can, they’re there. It’s just that next step.”
Canton opened the scoring after a little more than two minutes. Senior defenseman Allie McCabe picked up the puck in her defensive zone and carried it the length of the ice, angling to the right wing circle before turning towards goal. Her shot, which was the first of the game, slipped just under the pad of MOA goalie Jess Widdop.
“Probably wasn’t her smoothest game tonight, but she did enough,” Aldrich said of McCabe, who also scored Canton’s only goal in the season-opening loss to Natick and who he called the best player on the ice. “Certain players, you allow them to take certain risks and as great a player as she is, she’s an even nicer kid. I haven’t had a more humble, team-oriented player. We need her right now.”
The Bulldogs weren’t creating a ton of scoring chances in the opening period, although they had the advantage in zone time. Audrey Koen forced a pad save with a backhand effort shortly after the goal, but it was a rare good look.
MOA was struggling to get anything going on offense. The Warriors went more than 10 minutes before registering a shot on goal. When they got one, it tied the game. Sophomore Maeve Anastasia forced a turnover in the attacking zone and fired a shot from the left wing circle that snuck past Canton goalie Sara Crimmins at the near post.
Canton had a late flurry to end the first. Tess Khoury had a chance right in front on a loose puck in the slot, but Widdop (19 saves) made the pad stop. In the final 10 seconds of the first, Maya Battista pinched in from the blue line to intercept a pass and snapped off a shot that Widdop gloved aside. The Bulldogs held a 7-2 edge in shots after one.
Early in the second, MOA got the game’s first power play chance, but Canton was able to kill it off without allowing a shot and then carried that momentum into the next stage of the game. Payton McDonough had a good chance when she pounced on a loose puck but missed the top corner with her wrister. Khoury then did well to set up Devin Spinale for a chance right in front but Widdop smothered the shot.
A power play opportunity allowed Canton to set up in the attacking zone. McCabe swung the pass from the point to Koen in the right wing circle and she restored the lead with a short-side shot that beat Widdop.
The lead lasted only 90 seconds before the Warriors evened things up again. A quick break saw Crimmins forced into a save by Kylie O’Keefe and Ava Adams was in the right place to snatch up the rebound and knock it into the open net.
After Crimmins covered up a shot from the point by Julia Muttart, shots in the second were even at 3-3, but Canton went on another late-period flurry.
Khoury fed the puck to the edge of the crease but Koen wasn’t able to jam it home. Just seconds later, Koen got another chance on a good outlet pass by McCabe that gave the forward plenty of open ice on the right side. Koen took her time and sniped the top corner, burying the chance and putting Canton up 3-2 heading into the second intermission.
“If Jess makes that save, this is a different game because momentum goes their way, but she not only scored, she buried that thing,” Aldrich said. “I thought she almost had too much time but she gained the ice like we talk about and that was a huge, huge goal. It won a league game against a team that’s going to get better and better.”
Ledin got a good look at a shot from the high slot inside the opening 30 seconds of the third, but Crimmins, who is filling in for injured starting goalie Carolyn Durand, made the blocker save.
Sophomore defenseman Tori Carr stole an outlet pass, skated into the slot and forced a good save out fo Widdop. In the ensuing scramble, McDonough fired a wrist shot through a crowd in front that seemed destined for the corner only to have Widdop get a piece of it and deflect it wide.
Although the Bulldogs were dominating in chance creation (outshooting the Warriors 8-2 in the period and 22-7 for the game), it remained a one-goal game and that meant the Warriors only needed one chance to grab a point. An inch to the right and Ledin’s shot would’ve tied the game, but instead Canton skated away with its first win.
“I think we gave our best effort,” Mullen said. “I don’t think we had that flow going, we were consistently getting broken up at the blue line instead of doing a dump-and-chase game at that point or chipping it off the boards. I think the girls allowed their emotions to get the better of them and got frustrated rather than taking a step back and resetting.”
Aldrich praised the level of competition in the Hock, adding, “We compete so well. It doesn’t matter who’s better, it’s an even playing field. It’s just good, competitive hockey and I think for our younger girls who haven’t been in that environment, hopefully they’ll calm down a little bit because they’ve been there.”
Canton (1-1-0) will travel to Woburn to face Winchester next Tuesday. Mansfield/Oliver Ames (0-2-0) will have a short rest, as the Warriors take on Walpole at Rodman Arena on Wednesday night.
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