On the night in which the Patriots celebrated the contributions of its seniors over the past four years, it was the seniors who contributed all the scoring in Thursday’s victory over the South Kingstown Rebels.

 

With the Abbey’s hockey rink decorated for the occasion, Portsmouth feted the seven seniors on the team.  Six players, Kyle McGowan, Noah McHugh, Alec Roderiques, Jake Force, Jonah Callandret, and Michael Adkins, as well as team manager Maura Goss were introduced and honored in a pre-game ceremony.  Once the festivities were complete the teams moved on to the main event: the contest between the two squads vying for third place in Division II South.

 

When the game began Portsmouth got off to a slow start.  The team had a lot of difficulties controlling  the play and taking charge of the contest.   Whether that was due to the distractions of the events before the game, or because the game was being played on a weeknight, an unusual occurrence in the league, or due to some other factor, cannot be determined.  The result, though was clear: the Rebels scored on a  power play late in the first period and carried the 1-0 lead into the first intermission.

 

The Patriots regrouped and got the game  going in their direction as the second period progressed.   With four minutes remaining in the period, Portsmouth struck twice in the span of forty-five seconds to grab the lead.  Callandret, assisted by Nolan O’Brien, notched the first goal on a delayed penalty call against the Rebels, and McGowan followed with his team-leading sixth goal of the season to put his squad up 2-1 with 3:18 left to play in the period.  Callandret, the team leader in assists,  was credited with his sixth of the season on McGowan’s goal.  The advantage was short lived though.  With only 1:09 remaining before the intermission, South Kingstown roared back and tied the game.  With the score knotted at two goals apiece, the game would come down to the final fifteen minutes of the third period to decide the winner.

 

The team had the added incentive of winning for the seniors on their special night.  But it was the seniors themselves who stepped up and added the winning effort in the contest.  With the clock winding down and the situation beginning to look like it might be headed to overtime, McHugh got the puck outside of South Kingstown’s zone.  Seeing an opening he dashed down the left side, around the back of the Rebels’ net and stuffed the puck under the goalie.  The beautiful unassisted wraparound goal put the Patriots ahead 3-2 with only 2:40 remaining in the period.

 

After taking its time out, South Kingstown managed to force a faceoff in the Patriots end of the ice, and pulled its goalie to gain the extra skater in a final attempt to tie score.  Shortly after Matt Marion won the draw for Portsmouth, Roderiques came up with the puck near his team’s blue line, headed toward the Rebels end of the ice and wristed a shot from the center line.  The puck traveled straight to the back of the empty net to give the Patriots a two goal cushion with 1:20 to go in the period.  And they needed it because South Kingstown wasn't done.

 

Notching up the pressure on the Patriots, the Rebels scored again to pull within a single goal of the lead with only forty-six seconds remaining on the clock.  South Kingstown won the subsequent faceoff at center ice and once again was threatening in the Portsmouth zone when the buzzer sounded to end the game.

 

The win was the third straight for the Patriots and solidified the team’s  hold on third place in the standings.  Portsmouth goalie Gage Aguiar made eleven saves in earning his third win of the season.  The Patriots outshot  the Rebels 22-14.

 

The squad has the weekend off but will begin its final push to the playoffs with two games next weekend.  First up, on Saturday, February 11 will be the season’s second meeting with the Lincoln - East Providence Co-op.  The teams will faceoff at 6:00 pm at Warwick’s Thayer Arena.  Portsmouth shut out the Lions 2-0 in the first game last weekend.  The Patriots prevailed in that contest but had to work hard to overcome the disadvantages they faced from amassing fifty-seven minutes in penalties during the game.  The team will be looking to avoid a similar situation with the Lions this time around, while aiming for their fourth win in row.

 

Sunday, February 12, at 4:00 pm Portsmouth will host its biggest rival in the team’s final regular season game at the Abbey.  The Patriots will take to the ice against the RMR Co-op for the second time in league action.  RMR, currently tied with Barrington for first place in Division II, won the first contest in a 3-0 shutout back in early December.  Portsmouth will have an eye on evening the series as the campaign heads toward the playoffs.  This is the game to see!  Expect a raucous, capacity crowd at the Abbey for this one.  Come early to get a parking space, but be sure you’re there to cheer for the Patriots in this big game.

 

See you at the rink