Friday, December 20

During the first snowfall of the new season, Portsmouth made the trip to Burrillville for the team’s first ‘away’ game of the season with Ponaganset.  Friday afternoon traffic was snarled because of the weather, so travel to the Levy rink took almost twice as long as usual.  Consequently, the game started about an hour later than scheduled, but when it did, the Patriots went to work and earned their first shutout of the season, defeating the Chieftains by a score of 2-0.

 

Chase Pascoe notched both of Portsmouth’s goals.  The first was scored, unassisted, on a power play with three minutes remaining in the first period.  He netted the second goal just eight seconds into the second period with assists from Ben West and Oliver Melanson.  Johnny Cabral was perfect in goal stopping all 27 Ponaganset shots.

 

The win evened the Patriots record on the new season at one win and one loss. 

 

 

Sunday, December 22

The Patriots were back at the Abbey Sunday afternoon for the first of two games this season with the Lincoln Lions.  With an exciting come from behind effort Portsmouth skated to a 7-4 victory to earn the team’s second win of the season.

 

The Lions and Patriots traded goals in the first period with each team notching two.  Lincoln then built a two-goal lead scoring, once in the second period and again early in the third period.  Down 4-2 with less than ten minutes remaining in the final period, PHS rang up five unanswered goals in just over seven minutes.  When the buzzer sounded to end the game, Portsmouth had erased the deficit and built a commanding three-goal lead.

 

Shane Temple poured in four goals and added an assist to lead all Patriots scorers.  Luke Brule got a goal and two assists, Chase Pascoe scored shorthanded, and Ben West had the game winning goal.  Connor Rogers had four assists in the game.  Portsmouth goalie Johnny Cabral made 23 saves to pick up his second win of the season.

 

The team has no games scheduled until after the Christmas - New Year break.  The squad won’t be sitting idle, though.  There are practices to skate in preparation for a very busy January with eight games on tap.

 

Merry Christmas to all and best wishes for a healthy and prosperous New Year

 

See you at the rink in January.