Freeman's Two Goals Lift Whaler Hockey To Thrilling Win Over Bourne

The boys hockey team would not be denied Wednesday night at Nantucket Ice, beating the Bourne Canalmen 3-2 to earn their first victory of the season in an electric matchup between the two Cape & Island schools.

"All the boys were pumped up," Whaler head coach Jack Moran said. "We had to emphasize to them, and they got it, that they had to go out and they just had to skate hard. That's what's going to win us games - moving fast and getting to the puck, putting bodies out there. Andrew Lavin (senior defenseman) threw his body around tonight like he was the last man standing. He was flattening people, and he felt good afterwards. He goes, 'Man, that was good' and I'm like yeah, you did a great job. That's what we've been looking for, and now he understands what we're talking about. He's a real strong kid.”

The Whaler’s trailed 2-0 with 5 minutes to go in the second period, but senior Ben Freeman put Nantucket on the board with 4:18 to go in the second to make it a 2-1 game heading into the final period. Senior captain Jeremy Jenkinson had the assist, finding Freeman out in front of the net with space. Freeman received the pass and was able to finish the feed with a slick backhand shot up and over the goalie’s left shoulder to cut into Bourne’s lead.

"We stressed to Ben and we talked to him in between shifts, and we were telling him, 'You got to get to those spots and you got to get that stick on that puck’ because if you do that, we're going to score goals,” Moran said. “And sure enough, he did it. It was great to see. It really was.”

Senior captain Canton Jenkinson came up clutch with the equalizer to make it 2-2 with 2:46 to go in the game off assists from Parker Furtado and Jeremy Jenkinson. Furtado sent the pass to Jeremy Jenkinson in the slot, who softly nudged it forward to his brother Canton, who had space and was able to lift a shot over the Bourne goalie’s right shoulder from close range to tie the game up.

Then with 1:29 to go in regulation, it was Freeman playing the part of the hero and scoring the game-winner to help the Whalers seal the victory.

“Ben has all the talent and all the ability in the world,” Moran said. “He played a really solid game. Overall, I thought the whole team played well. The whole team was firing on all cylinders. There weren’t any passengers and there weren’t any guys running around looking lost.”

The star of the game was junior goalie Thomas Schroeder, who was spectacular in net and earned high praise from his coach postgame.

"Thomas was phenomenal," Whaler head coach Jack Moran said when asked about the performance of his junior goalie. "I mean, night and day change from Sunday. I think he was just more comfortable."

Nantucket is now 1-1 this season and will not play again until January 3rd, when they travel to Martha’s Vineyard for a rematch with the Vineyarders.

You can view more photos from this game taken by Current Sports Photographer Chris Tran here.