Schools

Mansfield Ice Hockey Beats North Attleboro 7-5

Mansfield High ice hockey out shoots North Attleboro.

 

Mansfield High boys' ice hockey team beat North Attleboro, 7-5, in a shootout match between the two teams Saturday.

The Hornets dominated the Rocketeers, out shooting them 39-16. Mansfield goalie Richard Shipman made 11 saves.

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“We’ve got to take advantage of our opportunities,” Mansfield head coach Rick Anastos said. “We did pretty good, and we out shot them quite a bit.”

The Hornets kept up a heavy pressure offense, keeping the puck in the Rocketeers' half of the ice as much as they could. The game saw a great deal of penalties from both sides, which let North Attleboro come back in the middle of the third period.

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North Attleboro scored first in the game, when a puck took an unlucky bounce across a defenders back and then over Shipman’s shoulder. Mansfield and North Attleboro both got consecutive powerplays at five to six minute marker (the Rocketeers being the first to get a power play) in the first period, but neither were able to capitalize on them.

“We played our game pretty well, but penalties will kill you,” Anastes said. “You can’t play your whole bench, and you end playing with someone in the penalty box all the time.”

Mansfield struck back with an unassisted straight shot from forward Shane Plotti with 2:23 left in the first period.

Mansfield got it together in the second period, scoring unanswered for three goals. Co-captain Jason Collins scored with assists from Will Kelleher and Eric Foley with 2:49 left in the second.

Forty seconds later, Mansfield co-captain Mike Blackman scored with assisted from Collins and Brendan Murphy. With 41 seconds left in the period, Foley stepped up and scored unassisted to bring the score to 4-1 at the end of the second period.

North Attleboro began to come together during the third period, firing back with four goals, but unable to take the lead. Mansfield kept up their scoring with three more goals themselves.

The Rocketeers struck first during the first minute of the period, but Mansfield scored just two minutes later.  Foley got in another shot with assistance from Collins and co captain Steve Folan during a power play. Mansfield and the Rocketeers battled it out until Murphy was able to get on by assisted by Kevin Flynn with 4:04 left in the game. Not 12 seconds later, Plottl struck again with an assist from Kyle Hurley to bring the score to 7-2.

North Attleboro scored three goals in last three minutes of play, but gained their momentum too little too late.

Mansfield plays Attleboro in Taunton Dec. 21 at 8 p.m.


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