The Tavistock Braves arrived in Wellesley Jan. 31 looking for payback, but the Applejacks sent them away empty-handed and fuming courtesy of a 5-4 overtime victory.
The longstanding rivalry between the two squads was given an extra edge by the 8-4 pounding the Jacks delivered to Tavistock on Jan. 9. Wellesley fans in the crowd were rewarded for their dedication, as the Jacks notched their first victory on home ice since October.
“It feels good to finally get the win,” said captain Scott Litt after the game. “It took long enough, but things are starting to click.”
Tied 3-3 through most of the second and third periods, the Jacks finally pulled ahead at the 13-minute mark, only to watch Tavistock tie things up again with three minutes left in regulation.
“We let in a soft goal and in the past that would have sunk us right there,” Litt said. “Those bounces come and they hurt, but we battled through everything tonight.”
Penalties and penalty killing were Wellesley’s vulnerable points again last Saturday, as Tavistock scored all four of their goals on the power play.
The Braves notched their first power play goal just 35 seconds in, with Evan Hebebrand mashing the puck into the net.
Wellesley got on the board at 8:36, with Dan Berwick crossing the puck in front of the net and Pat Doyle driving it home. The Jacks moved out in front six minutes later with a second goal from Doyle, this one on a feed from Eric Parr and Rob Bolger.
Tavistock evened things up before the end of the period when Hebebrand blasted a slap shot past keeper Luke Zehr.
Five seconds into the second frame, Parr drew a hooking penalty and Hebebrand scored his third power play goal to regain the lead for Tavistock. The lead was short-lived, though. Three minutes later, Read Shantz carried the puck into the corner and wired a pass to Scott Hanley in front of the net. Hanley put it away to tie things at three goals apiece.
The next 23 minutes passed with no scoring on either side. Wellesley finally broke the deadlock at 13:21 in the third, with Bolger (Doyle, Parr) notching the point.
With three minutes to go, Chris Bauman found an open corner and tied things up, causing a roar from the Tavistock fans and sending the game into overtime.
The Braves nearly ended it 3:32 into overtime, when an attacker found an opening and let a shot rip, but Zehr made a fast glove save to keep the Jacks in the game.
Finally, with just over a minute left, Parr powered the puck into Tavistock’s zone and Bolger hammered it past netminder Billy Whaling to clinch the victory.
After their gritty play on Saturday, the Jacks reverted to their old, undisciplined ways against Thamesford Tuesday night, going down 8-1 to the Trojans.
Thamesford scored four unanswered goals, two of them unassisted, in the first half of the first period.
After staying out of the box in the first frame, the Jacks racked up 46 minutes in penalties in the second and third, handing Thamesford eight power play opportunities.
The Trojans added a fifth goal on the power play before Ryan Kuepfer put Wellesley on the board in the last seconds of the second frame.
The third period was all about Thamesford again, as the top team in the division added three more goals to their total. Over the course of the game, the Jacks managed just 18 shots to Thamesford’s 35.
The Jacks have four games remaining in the regular season before they head into the playoffs, where they are guaranteed a berth.
“We had a good team meeting on [Jan. 28] about making a push for the playoffs and proving to ourselves and the rest of the league that we’re not going to be a pushover,” Litt said. “We’re not going to score many pretty goals out there but if we keep working hard, we’re going to get our bounces.”
The Jacks will have to work on staying out of the box and killing penalties more effectively if they want to last past the first round. Wellesley sits second from the bottom of the league on penalty killing percentage.
The Jacks are now 8-22-6, but Litt said the team is going to put the disappointing season behind them and focus on the games to come.
“The way we look at it, we’ve got 40 exhibition games. We’re trying to get a good head of steam going into the playoffs. If you work hard, anything can happen.”
The Jacks take on North Middlesex tonight (Saturday) in Wellesley. Game time is 7:30 p.m.
