As the team prepares to enter the final week of the regular season, and make its run for the playoffs, Portsmouth got back on the winning track again Saturday evening at the Abbey.  Matthew Harrigan scored three times and Kyle Alvanas added two more goals to boost the Patriots over PSW, the co-op team from Providence Country Day, Wheeler, and Saint Raphael Academy, by  a score of 5-1.  Harrigan’s Hat Trick was his second of the season.  Ben O’Hearn, Dallas Wynegar, and Matt Alexander each picked up two assists on the Portsmouth tallies while Evan Alvanas and Cam Hebert got one apiece.

Harrigan opened the scoring in the first period with a power play goal at 3:28.  PSW got it back late in the period with a power play goal of their own, and the two teams went into the first intermission even at one goal apiece.

Portsmouth ratcheted up the pressure on PSW in the second period.  Despite several good scoring chances by the Patriots, the PSW goalie, Laurie Mazza, made a number of excellent saves and kept her team in the game.  It was not until late in the second session that Harrigan and Alvanas struck less than a minute apart to give the squad a solid two goal lead in the contest. 

With the start of the third period, PSW changed goal tenders, a surprising situation that the Patriots wasted no time taking advantage of.  In the first minute of the period, Harrigan and Alvanas each fired shots that found the back of the PSW net.  Down by four goals, PSW’s frustration level appeared to increase and with it so did the penalties to each squad.  The referees, who had previously awarded 11 penalties in the first two periods, assessed 11 more in the third period, for a total of 22 in the game.  At one point Portsmouth even had all four of its usual starting defensemen in the penalty box at the same time.  Despite the penalties, the entire team, including all the players that usually do not see much ice time, played exceptionally well and along with Ben Hood in goal, kept PSW off the scoreboard to seal the victory.

The Patriots scored twice on five power play opportunities in the game, and surrendered only a single goal while the team was on the penalty kill.  Portsmouth outshot its opponent 23-19.  Hood had 18 saves in his fourth win of the season.

The Patriots are now preparing for the final stretch of the regular season when they will play four games in the next eight days.  Each contest will be against a playoff contender, and the team’s playoff hopes hang in the balance.  It will be a challenging week coming up, with exciting games for all the fans of Patriots hockey.

First up will be the squad’s second meeting this season with the Middletown Islanders.  In the first game, last Friday, the Islanders extended their record of not having lost to Portsmouth since making the jump to D-II two seasons ago.  Middletown’s 6-0 defeat of the Portsmouth in that game was a setback the Patriots will be looking to overcome when the two teams faceoff tomorrow, Monday February 18, at noon at the Abbey.  Game day tomorrow is a federal holiday, Presidents Day; school is out and many people have the day off.  It will be a great day to head to the Abbey and root for the Patriots in their final push to the playoffs.  See you at the rink.