Sports Roundup: Boys Hockey Wins 10th Straight Game, Clinches State Tournament Berth
David Creed •
The boys hockey team continues to roll. On the backs of six different goal scorers, the Whalers walked out of their home rink with a 6-0 victory over the Dennis-Yarmouth Dolphins – improving their record to 10-1 this season with their 10th consecutive win to clinch a spot in the MIAA Div. 4 State Tournament.
Senior defenseman Hunter Strojny got the scoring going in the first period with his first goal of the season five and a half minutes into the game. Assistant captain and senior defenseman Michael Culkins added an insurance goal with 1:12 remaining in the opening period with a powerful wrist shot to help Nantucket take a 2-0 lead into the second period.
"First period they were doing fine but we just couldn't find the back of the net,” Moran said. “We had a lot of shots. I don't know how many shots (DY) had but again, it was one of those games where they didn't have an awful lot of shots on us.”
The Whalers struck early in the second period to double their lead. Senior winger Braden Knapp scored his seventh goal of the year 1:17 into the second and sophomore winger Jeremy Jenkinson scored his seventh goal of the season 32 seconds later to make it 4-0.
Moran and his staff began rolling all of his lines once they got that fourth goal on an occasional basis, but when sophomore winger Ben Freeman scored his second goal of the year on a nice play in front of the net where he was able to lift a loose puck over the shoulder of the DY goalie, Nantucket was able to get all of their players plenty of ice time.
Moran said he felt DY had a stronger performance when the Whalers played them on the road at the beginning of the month (a 4-0 victory) but felt his team’s ability to create consistent, sustainable pressure on the Dolphins in their own zone paid dividends.
Assistant captain and senior center Ryan Davis scored his 13th goal of the season 2:35 into the final period to make it 6-0. From there, Nantucket worked hard to preserve the shoutout for Captain and senior goalie Griffin Starr. Starr left the net in the final minutes as sophomore CJ Clarke took over and made a couple of saves at the end to seal it for the Whalers.
"Now we got Old Rochester on Saturday. That'll be a good one,” Moran said. “That's definitely going to be a good one and we got Sandwich Monday - so it's definitely going to be a couple of good back-to-back games.”
Old Rochester Regional High School (8-4-1) is currently the #12 seed in the latest MIAA Div. 4 state tournament bracket while Nantucket is currently #2. The Whalers played ORR twice last year and beat them both times: 6-3 win at home and 4-1 win on the road. Saturday’s game will begin at 2 p.m. at Nantucket Ice.
On Monday, January 29th the Whalers will travel to the Gallo to face one of their biggest rivals, the Sandwich Blue Knights, who knocked the Whalers out of the state tournament last year in the state semifinal.
The Blue Knights remain one of the best teams in Div. 4 and are currently not far behind Nantucket in the latest standings at #4. Monday’s game will begin at 3:30 p.m.
Girls Hockey Shutout Against Falmouth
The girls hockey team is still searching for their first win of the season after losing to the Falmouth Clippers on the road 8-0. The Whalers are 0-8 this season and will have two more games on the road before their next home game on February 7th.
The Whalers will travel to Nauset to play the Warriors at 4 p.m. on Saturday, January 27th. Then they will have one week off before traveling to Martha’s Vineyard for a 1 p.m. game on Saturday, February 3rd.
SCHEDULE AHEAD:
Friday, January 26th:
The girls basketball team will attempt to improve their record to 6-6 this season when they host the Sturgis West Navigators at 5 p.m.
The boys basketball team will be on the road facing South Hadley at 6:30 p.m.
The swim team will also have their senior send-off at 7:10 p.m.
Saturday, January 27th:
The boys hockey team will host Old Rochester Regional High School at 2 p.m.
The boys basketball team will be on the road facing Millbury at 1:30 p.m.
The girls hockey team will be on the road facing Nauset at 4 p.m.
The boys and girls swim teams will be in Sandwich competing in the Cape & Island Championship Meet.
Sunday, January 28th
There are no games scheduled.
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