by GD Alumni Group posted 03/09/2010
The 96 Bantam Minor team captured the NEHL American division championship this weekend by defeating, in the round robin, Seacoast Friday night, 8-2, and then Assabet Valley on Saturday, 6-0. The Semi Final round on Sunday morning was exciting against the Valley Jr. Warriors. The Falcons jumped out to a 2-0 lead with goals from Michael Santaniello and Andy Provost. But the Warriors battled back to cut the lead to 2-1. The Warriors then raised the tension by scoring a second goal with 20 seconds left in the game to tie it up and send it to overtime. In overtime it didn’t take long for Nolan O’Connor to find the back of the net. Willy Smith had two assists and Matt Blascak had a solid game in goal for the Falcons in a winning effort. The Falcons faced Assabet Valley
Sunday afternoon in the finals. Assabet Valley had also just come off a win in overtime against the New Hampshire Jr. Monarchs on Sunday morning in the Semi Final round. The Falcons, coming off two consecutive years of losing in a shootout in the league finals, were now back in the finals for a 3rd time. The Falcons were looking for a championship, but they had to get by a very good Assabet Valley team before they could claim victory. The game started off very even, but towards the end of the first period, Bryce Peritz took a lightning quick slap shot that found the back of the net. At the end of the 1st period the score was 1-0 in favor of the Falcons. The 2nd period was another very evenly matched period with both Assabet Valley and Falcons getting a lot of shots on net; the goaltending was superb for both sides. With approximately four minutes left to play in the second period, the Falcons had a power play and with the power play seconds from being over, Willy Smith scored to make it 2-0 Falcons. The 2nd period ended 2-0 falcons. The 3rd period was, again, evenly matched. With 2 minutes left, Assabet, who was down by two, pulled their goalie to try to score. But in net, Aidan Cain was solid for the Falcons making save after save. The Falcons iced the game when Andy Provost scored on the empty net from a great lead pass from Tommy Greene. The Final score was 3-0. The team played excellent throughout the playoffs on both sides of the ice, scoring 20 goals in four games and only allowing 4 goals against.
After 2 years of tough losses in a shootout in the finals, the Falcons are Champions again!
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