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Smithfield ousts Tolman |
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Sunday, 09 March 2008 |
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By MICHAEL PARENTE Sports writer PAWTUCKET – Vincent Tedino quickly realized a goalie’s best weapon is his short memory.
After allowing a goal 44 seconds into Game 2 of Smithfield’s best-of-three playoff series Saturday against Tolman, Tedino kept his composure and promptly shut the door on the Tigers’ season as the fourth-seeded Sentinels advanced to the Division II boys’ hockey semifinals with a 5-2 victory at Lynch Arena.
“I had to just block it out and think of keeping my team in the game so they could get the momentum back,” said Tedino, who stopped 24 shots after T.J. Jackvony scored in the opening minute. “We have a long week of practice, which will be good for us, and I think that’s better than playing (in Game 3) on Monday night.”
The fifth-seeded Tigers had ample breakaway opportunities throughout the night, but Tedino maintained his poise less than 24 hours after shutting out Tolman in Game 1.
With the Sentinels leading 3-2 in the second period, Tedino made a brilliant backhand save on a 2-on-1against Bryan Moreau. Timothy Judge scored moments later to make it 4-2. Moreau threatened again at the end of the period, but Tedino snared his slap shot with a nifty glove save and the Sentinels responded by scoring a short-handed goal to break the game open.
“By all means, I think Vinny Tedino played great,” Smithfield head coach Robert Jackson said. “He played great (Friday) night and he played great tonight.
“He’s a very good goaltender. He doesn’t get rattled when he gets scored on, like at the beginning of the game when they came down and sniped on him top shelf. He was fine. He was saving the puck all night and he kept us in it. He really did.”
With the game out of reach in the closing seconds, Tedino added one more highlight to his outstanding performance, stopping Jackvony on a breakaway with :21.5 remaining. Jackvony slammed his stick to the ice, symbolizing the frustration Tolman felt throughout the night after coming up short on a handful of breakaways.
“We started off well with T.J. banging that one in for us, but we just didn’t do a good job down low boxing them out and giving them the rebounds,” Tolman head coach Tom Vecoli said. “I think we had about five breakaways tonight. We buried one, but their goaltender played well.
“He came up with some nice saves – some big saves – for them when they needed it and I think that was the difference.”
The Sentinels evened the score at the 4:52 mark of the opening period on John Del Padre’s power-play goal and took a 2-1 lead 26 seconds later when Mike Giuliani’s slap shot from the blue line trickled through goaltender Ari Vieira’s legs.
Tolman answered on Ross Leclaire’s power-play goal on a rebound in front of the net, but the Sentinels scored on the ensuing face-off 10 seconds later to retake the lead. Co-captain Joseph Gonsalves netted the game-winner after following his own shot and slamming home the rebound with 4:53 to go in the period.
The clincher came late in the second when Cody Lange scored a short-handed goal to give Smithfield a 5-2 edge. Lange froze defender Derek Deshaies with a pass off the boards and then corralled the deflection in the neutral zone to start a 1-on-1 breakaway. The junior forward easily beat Tolman’s defense to the net and slipped the puck through Vieira’s legs to put the game out of reach.
“Like any sport, momentum’s huge,” Jackson said. “Cody Lange is fast and he can bury the biscuit. He just got a chance to come down the side boards and drove to the net, and snuck it in five hole. That was a big goal for us. It took the wind out of their sails.”
Timothy Judge also scored in the second period for Smithfield to make it 4-2, but Lange’s goal put the finishing touches on the series sweep. The Sentinels will play top-seeded Portsmouth in the semifinals beginning next weekend.
“We came into that power play with our top line and I said to them, ‘They’re going to go for it right now,’” Vecoli said. “We had a play set up and we kind of got crossed up. The kid pulled it in, got his stick on it, and kind of dumped it out. He made a nice move, broke down the wing and cut in and made it 5-2. We just couldn’t find the back of the net again.”
Notes: Sixth-seeded St. Raphael upset third-seeded North Kingstown, 3-2, Friday at Boss Arena in Game 1 of its best-of-three Division II playoff series. Dana Joseph scored twice, including the game-winner five minutes into the third period to give the Saints a 3-1 lead. Tom Votta also scored for St. Raphael. Game 2 of that series began at 10:15 p.m. Saturday at Lynch Arena.
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Smithfield 3 2 0–5
Tolman 2 0 0–2
First period – T, T.J. Jackvony 0:44; S, John Del Padre (Colby Fugere) PP 4:52; S, Mike Giuliani 5:18; T, Ross Leclaire (Redmond Leclaire) PP 9:57; S, Joseph Gonsalves 10:07. Penalties – Smithfield, 2-4:00; Tolman, 2-4:00.
Second period – S, Timothy Judge (Nathan Iannuccillo, Marco Scotti) 7:56; S, Cody Lange SH 11:26. Penalties – Smithfield, 1-2:00.
Third period – no scoring. Penalties – Smithfield, 1-2:00; Tolman, 1-2:00.
Saves – S, Vincent Tedino 24; T, Ari Vieira 24.
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 29 March 2008 )
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