Northwood win worth the wait
LAKE PLACID — The Northwood School junior hockey team got the win it’s been wanting for a long time.
On Friday at the Olympic Center’s 1932 Rink, the Huskies toppled Shattuck-St. Mary’s 4-1, rallying from a one-goal deficit to get the job done.
After suffering a string of tough one-goal losses against Shattuck-St. Mary’s, Northwood’s players finally got to feel what it’s like to take down a foe they’ve never beaten. The matchup was between the top two ranked prep school teams in the United States, and the Huskies shook off a shaky start to treat their home fans to a signature victory on the opening day of the 38th annual Northwood Invitational Tournament.
The Huskies fell behind 1-0 in the second period, but rose to the occasion in a big way by rallying with a four-goal third period to improve to 27-4-3. Aleksi Peltonen and Wyatt Wilmshurst led Northwood with two goals each, senior Jack Dugan picked up three assists, and Mathew Petizian sparkled in nets, especially late, recording 28 saves to earn the win.
Facing a 1-0 deficit at the start of the third, the Huskies didn’t waste much time to take control. Peltonen notched his first of the game with 1:24 gone in the period to tie the score, and Wilmshurst then buried a puck less than two minutes later to put Northwood ahead for good. The Huskies then added two more goals during the later stages of the game to secure the comeback win.
“A come-from-behind win in the third period — that’s how we drew it up,” Northwood coach Chadd Cassidy said with a grin following the victory. “My biggest fear with our guys was just coming out a little too hyped up. We had way too much emotion and we wasted a lot of energy. We weren’t sharp in the first two periods. We played well and we were playing hard but we weren’t connecting the dots. I thought going into the third period, we really settled down, and our best players were our best players.”
Shattuck-St. Mary’s controlled play early, especially in the opening period that saw Northwood put just four shots on goal. The Sabres jumped on top 1-0 at the 7:35 mark of the second on a wrap-around goal by Niko Esposito after the Huskies were pinned in their end of the rink. Matt Staudacher and Caleb Rule picked up assists on the tally, which turned out to be on only time Shattuck-St. Mary’s beat Petizian on the night.
Northwood then took control in the third despite being outshot 13-10 in the period. Peltonen netted Northwood’s first goal when he one-time a wrist shot past Sabres netminder Jack Robbel. Peltonen got the puck at the top of the circle directly from Dugan, who slid a pass backwards while wining a faceoff.
Wilmshurst then scored back-to-back goals. He lifted the Huskies to a 2-1 edge 3:02 into the period when he tipped home a puck on the right side of the net while sliding along the ice, and made it a 3-1 game at the 11:19 mark, beating Robbel on a wrist shot, again from the right side of the net. Dugan and Sean Bunting assisted on the first goal Wilmshurst scored, and Kaden Pickering and Simon Morberg picked up assists on hissecond tally.
Peltonen rounded out the scoring at the 16:07 mark when he took a Dugan feed near center ice, beat a Sabres defender and skated in all alone on net for a breakaway goal.
Dugan, a talented playmaker who will play for Providence College, said it was nice to finally beat Shattuck-St. Mary’s, and picking up the win at home made it that much more special.
“We’ve been wanting to get these guys for a long time,” Dugan said. “We played them once last year and lost a heartbreaker 4-3; played them earlier this year in Minnesota and it was 5-4, the same story. It was definitely good to come back home and beat them. It was only the third time we’ve played at home, we got a lot of support, and it felt good. We don’t usually play in front of this many people.”
Cassidy credited his veterans for taking control to lead the team to victory.
“Jack Dugan, Aleksi Peltonen, Kaden Pickering, Wyatt Wilmshurst, Nick Ormon, Jesper Peltonen — they were the best players on the ice in the third period, and that’s how we did what we did,” Cassidy said. “I said to the guys in the locker room ‘our senior leadership, they weren’t going to let us lose that hockey game.’ They’re a determined group. When the chips are down, they always seem to find a way to get it done for us.”
Friday’s first games in the 38th annual Northwood Invitational were all junior showcase matchups. The six junior teams appearing in Lake Placid will play two more games, one today and another Sunday. The other three divisions — girls and boys prep and U16 — will all begin play today.
After getting past Shattuck-St. Mary’s, Northwood’s juniors will now face Nichols today at the 1932 Rink starting at 2 p.m. The Huskies juniors wrap up play Sunday against Culver with the opening faceoff slated for 9 a.m.
After Friday’s big win, Cassidy warned his players they have to be ready for their next two opponents, which are also ranked highly in the national prep school poll.
“Naturally our guys are excited about the win, but we talked after this game that you have to have a short-term memory,” Cassidy said. “It’s great to have this feeling and sleep on this win tonight, but we’re going to play against a really good hockey team tomorrow afternoon that we know is going to come out and compete. It’s almost a trap game because you’re so amped up after tonight. After this win, you think the next one is going to be easy but it’s not.”
—
Northwood 4, Shattuck-St. Mary’s 1
Sabres 0 1 0 — 1
Huskies 0 0 4 — 4
Scoring
Second Period
1. SSM, Esposito (Staudacher, Rule), 7:35.
Third Period
2. NW, A. Peltonen (Dugan), 1:24; 2. NW, Wilmshurst (Dugan, Bunting), 3:02, pp; 3. NW, Wilmshurst (Pickering, Morberg), 11:19; 4. NW, A. Peltonen (Dugan), 16:07.
Shots on goal: SSM 29, NWS 22
Saves: NWS, Petizian 28; SSM Robbel 18.