Down 2-0 on the scoreboard, the Old Rochester/Fairhaven coop hockey team got the pushback it was looking for entering the second period of Saturday’s MIAA Division 4 tournament game against Hanover. But an unlucky bounce and an untimely turnover conspired to undermine the Bulldogs’ effort in a season-ending 4-1 defeat at the Hobomock Arena in Pembroke.
“I think it took a little while for the kids to realize the speed of the game … they dominated the first shift. The second and third lines had some trouble,” said ORR/Fairhaven coach Zach Ledogar, whose team found its rhythm in the second period.
Hanover senior Myles Joyce scored 8:20 into the game, and just 22 seconds later, Mehki Bryan made it 2-0 when Tucker Roy’s save on Bryan’s original shot caromed off the Hanover senior’s body and fell into the ORR/Fairhaven net.
Junior forward Caleb Bousquet got ORR/Fairhaven on the board 5:09 into the second period when he stole the puck right off Hanover winger Christopher Doherty’s stick and flung a shot before goalie Thomas Perkins could reset.
But Doherty made amends for his lapse, capitalizing on an ORR/Fairhaven turnover and scoring with one minute left in the period to restore the Hawks’ two-goal lead. Although they still trailed by two, the second was a better period for the Bulldogs (13-9-1.)
“We weren’t timid on the puck, we started outskating the other team and outshot them that period as well,” said Ledogar, whose team had advanced with a convincing 7-2 win over Cohasset on February 29 at Tabor Academy.
Down 3-1 at second intermission thanks in part to Roy’s 34-save performance, the Bulldogs had a revived optimism heading into the third period. Only Henry Phillips scored just 12 seconds after the third-period faceoff to make it a 4-1 game.
“It was really deflating at that point. … They kept fighting right to the end,” said Ledogar, proud of his team.
The Bulldogs’ best shift of the third period included sustained pressure in the Hanover zone, but they had trouble getting pucks through to Perkins as three shots were blocked and two others missed their target.
Towering Hanover sophomore Cole Hendrickson got caught up trying to joust with burly ORR/Fairhaven junior Justin Marques, who had sent multiple Hanover bodies flying upon impact.
Bousquet and Connor Galligan had five points each in the win over Cohasset.
While Hanover advanced to play third-seeded Norwell (17-5-1) in the quarterfinals, ORR/Fairhaven looks to next year.
The young Bulldogs will lose their all-purpose defense pairing of Barrett Becotte and Austin Branco to graduation, along with forward Jack Finn, who skated second and third-line wing. “He played hard, he’s fast and got to every loose puck, in every dirty area,” said Ledogar.
Ledogar entered his fifth season behind the ORR/Fairhaven with a goal that goes back to the day he was hired.
“In five years, I wanted to compete for a championship with Old Rochester,” he said. While admitting Saturday night did not present the result that every team wants, he feels the Bulldogs have shown they can compete outside of the region and have turned the corner as a program.
“Right from the start when we beat Dartmouth, we beat Stang, we were on a 4-0 run from the start. We had a couple downslopes, but we rallied back and beat all the teams we were supposed to beat,” he said.
ORR/Fairhaven was only ever over its head against Nantucket and Nauset, and that exposure to higher-pace hockey worked in the Bulldogs’ favor. “I didn’t want to schedule lower opponents, I wanted to schedule tougher opponents for the end of the season,” said Ledogar.
Five years into the job, he becomes aware of opportunities to climb the coaching ladder but says, “I love coaching in the town I grew up in. … This … has been one of the favorite things in my life.”
ORR/Fairhaven Hockey
By Mick Colageo