PLAY-OFFS UPDATE!
updated April 24, 2005
After a long season of ups and downs, games won and games lost, it finally ended on Championship Sunday. The Hawks brought home five trophies; three first place and two second place. In the Valley League, the Hawks had three teams clinch first place in their respective divisions; the Bantam 1 , Mite 1 and Mite 2 teams. The PeeWee 2 team finished second, the PeeWee 1 team and the Squirt 2 finished third, while the Squirt 1 team finished fourth, and the Bantam 2 team finished in sixth. In the Dual State League, the Hawks sent four teams to the playoffs. The Bantam 1 and the Mite 1 teams finished their seasons in first place in their divisions, while the PeeWee 1 and the Bantam 2 teams took second in their divisions. After the ice had cleared, the Hawks skated away with two first place trophies in Dual State - the Bantam 1 and Bantam 2 teams.
QUARTERFINALS
In the quarterfinals, the Squirt 1 team fell to Methuen; the Squirt 2 team fell to York; and the Bantam 2 team fell to NH East.
The PeeWee 1 team advanced to the semi-finals with a 5-4 quarterfinal win over Tewksbury. After falling behind 4-0, Rob Daly put in a pass from Billy Mistretta to kick start a tremendous rally at 5:20 of the second period. Three minutes later, Nick Brodeur tapped one in after Andrew Giroux battled the puck out from behind the net. Jimmy McSwiggin kept the rally going with about 1:00 minute to play in the second helped by Daly . At the end of the second period, the momentum had shifted and the Hawks were now firing on all cylinders. Garrett Beaulieu was forced to make some big saves in a few mad scrambles around the Hawks net early in the third to keep the game close. The back breaker came from Daly on an unassisted goal to tie it 4-4 with 8:00 minutes to play. The clock ticked off to 1:02 before Matt Kelliher finished a fine 2-1 break setup by a sweet pass from Daly at the blue line that sent him in alone to tickle the twine for the game winner!
SEMI-FINALS
In the semi-finals, the PeeWee 2 team lost to S & S, and the Mite 1 team lost to Saugus.
The Mite 2 team edged past Reading 4-3 to advance to the Championship game. John Raikos and Brian Smith got things going with goals in the first period with help from Spencer Berube , Connor Joyce, Kameron Conway and Ryan Dunn. Reading scored two in the second to tie it up, but then goalie Corey Vaillancourt shut the door on the opponent! Berube earned the playmaker with his assists on the game winner and insurance goals by Raikos who finished the game with a hat trick!
The PeeWee 1 team jumped out to an early 2-0 lead against a tough Melrose team. Rob Daly started things off with an unassisted tally early in the first. Then followed one of the nicest goals all season coming off the stick of Dan Cooke, assisted by Andrew Giroux who dug the puck out of the corner and fed it back to Tom Conley on the line. Conley found Cooke on the far post and put a pass right on the tape from the point. Melrose tied it up late in the second but early in the third, Nick Brodeur put one in assisted by Billy Mistretta. Although Melrose got one more late in the third, the defensive core of Conley, Pat Garrigan, Matt Lee and Rory O'Connor tightened up the "D" and played solid. Daly got the game winner from Giroux and Alec Trull with 2:18 left to play. Melrose pulled the goalie in favor of the extra skater and kept the pressure on for the final minute, but the Hawks did not bend and ended up on top 4-3 and heading on to Championship Sunday!
The Bantam 1 team skated to the end of the game to finish off Everett in a 3-2 nailbiter! Everett jumped right in with a goal at the one minute mark. But Danny Moynihan, assisted by Brian Murray and Joey Labella answered one minute later. The score stayed tied at one until halfway through the third period, when Everett squeezed one in. The Hawks were undaunted, and rallied back on goals by Ross Sarmento and Zach Gys in the final three minutes to move them on to Championship Sunday! Assisting on the goals were Jonathan Aguiar, Philip Garrigan, Danny O'Brien and Moynihan.
FINALS
Despite goals by Danny Moynihan and Zach Gys , the Bantam 1 team came up short in the Championship game, losing to Concord 5-2.
The PeeWee 1 team once again jumped out to an early 1-0 lead on an unassisted goal from Rob Daly against a tough Wakefield team. Wakefield came back strong, scoring two in the first and two in the second to make it 4-2 at the end of two periods. Daly netted the second with an assist from Nick Brodeur. Wakefield found the back of the net three more times in the third to make it a 7-2 final. Everybody gave it their all for 72 minutes in the semi and final games and should be proud of their efforts!
The Mite 2 team faced off against Burlington in the Championship game at the Rinks in Exeter. The game ended in a 2-2 tie after regulation time, with Hawks goals by John Raikos assisted by Brandon Bishop and Kameron Conway and an unassisted bid by Brian Smith . After a five minute overtime, it remained 2-2. Corey Vaillancourt closed the doors on all but one in the five on five shoot-out. Meanwhile, the Hawks netted shots by Raikos , Smith and Connor Joyce to bring home the Championship trophy!
The Mite 2 team finished 1st in Red East Division, then defeated Burlington to take the Championship!
SEMI-FINALS
The Bantam 1 team had seven different goal scorers in an 8-3 win over Tewksbury. Every member of the team contributed with either an assist or a goal! And playing strong in net was Justin Gauthier. Sharing the scoring for the Hawks were Ross Sarmento with a goal and two assists, Mike DiDomenico with two goals and an assist, T.A. DeMoulas, a goal and an assist, Zach Gys with one goal, Joey LaBella one goal, Jonathan Aquiar with a goal and an assist and Bobby Mitchell, a goal and an assist. Teammate Danny Moynihan assisted on three for the playmaker, while Stephen Therriault helped on two. And an assist each came from Dan O'Brien, Philip Garrigan and Brian Murray .
Goalie Chris Depari stoned Methuen to earn the 5-0 shutout for the Bantam 2 team in their semi-final matchup. Matt Kelleher contributed a goal and two assists, while teammate Nick Esposito put in one and assisted on another. Also finding the back of the net were Eric Olejarz, Steve Hines, and Anthony Manfredi. Assisting on the goal scoring were Casey Johnston and Varian Ricard.
The PeeWee 1 and Mite 1 teams fell short in their bids to advance to the finals.
FINALS
Another outstanding perfomance in net by Chris Depari, combined with two goals and an assist from game MVP, Tommy Xyamountry enabled the Bantam 2 team to blank Billerica, 3-0 and take the Championship! Helping to stifle the opponent were defensemen Will Driscoll, AJ Stanley, Kevin Corcoran and Casey Johnston. The third goal came from Nick Esposito, who also chipped in with an assist. Steve Hines also had an assist.
The Bantam 2 team blanked Billerica in the finals to win the Championship Game.
Trailing 2-0 at the end of one period, the Bantam 1 team battled back and made it a game to the end, finally outscoring their opponent to edge past Wakefield 5-4 and take the Championship! Two goals in the second by T.A. DeMoulas and Brian Murray, made it a tight 3-2 game. Finally finding their groove in the third period, Mike DiDomenico proved he was the game MVP by netting two, including the game winner at :43! Stephen Therriault chipped in with a goal and two assists, and earning a playmaker was Philip Garrigan. Also contributing with assists were Ross Sarmento and Brian Murray. Making several key stops in net was Justin Gauthier.
The Bantam 1 team finished the season in 1st place and defeated Wakefield in the Championship Game.