The Patriots began their quest for the championship with a 3-1 win over North Smithfield, Friday night at the Abbey.  The game was the first in the best of three quarterfinal series.

The number eight seeded Northmen proved to be a challenging opponent for the usually high scoring Patriots.  Their freshman goalie, Michael Tremblay, had an outstanding game and held Portsmouth to just two goals on 29 shots.

Joey Levreault got PHS on the scoreboard with a power play goal at just over five minutes remaining in the first period but then it remained a one-goal game for the next 32 minutes.  Anything can happen in a one-goal game, so everyone breathed a sigh of relief when Connor Rogers put the team up by two with an unassisted insurance goal with three and a half minutes remaining in the third period.

Rogers’ goal proved to be needed for the win.  With two minutes left in regulation time the Northmen pulled their goalie for an extra skater on the ice.  It paid off on a goal with exactly one minute to go in the third period.  The tally pulled North Smithfield back to within a goal of the lead and spoiled Portsmouth goalie Steve Dutra’s bid for a shutout.

The Northmen called Tremblay to the bench for the extra attacker once again in the final minute of play, but that time Portsmouth made sure the ploy didn’t work.   Levreault came up with the puck just inside Patriots blue line and cleared it to the other end of the ice, and right into the opponent’s empty net.

Game notes:

• Portsmouth outshot North Smithfield 30-13 in the game
• There were 12 penalties assessed in the game, with the Northmen being called for seven for 14 minutes and the Patriots taking five for 10 minutes.
• All the penalties resulted in the Patriots going on the power play five times in the game, with Levreault scoring on the first one during a five on three advantage.  The team also had to deal with four penalty kill situations, during which they held the Northmen to just a single shot on goal.

Game Two of the series is today, Saturday, March 4 at the Rhode Island Sports Center / Route 146 Rink.  The contest is set to begin at 8:20 pm.  A Patriots victory will move the team to the semifinal round of the playoff tournament.  Make the trip to the away game and cheer the team onto the next round.

See you at the rink.