By Avonlea Cummings
Hometown Weekly Sports Reporter
It was a night full of celebration for the Needham boys’ hockey team on Wednesday, February 21, as the Rockets dominated the ice in a 5-1 win over the Barnstable Redhawks The Rockets ignited another flame of momentum just in time, as they head into the playoffs with an 11-8-1 record.
Needham’s Ryan DiNicola faced off against Barnstable to kick off the evening’s competition, and the Rockets took charge of the ice. 19 seconds into the first period, senior Alexander Giancola received a pass from DiNicola and propelled the first goal of the night into the back of the Redhawks’ net. The arena full of fans went electric to the first goal of senior night securing the Rockets the first lead. Needham continued to hound the net throughout the period, having a spark underneath them, the boys played with urgency and grit. Barnstable relentlessly attempted to block Needham’s agile offense, but the Rockets moved too fast for the Redhawks to keep up. With seven seconds to go in the first period, Needham’s Matt Ledbury swiped a pass to Rockets’ Matt Rutter, Rutter launched the puck and knocked it into the net pinning another point in the lead for Needham.
Headed into the second period, Needham looked to challenge the Redhawks but were stunned by Barnstable’s change of pace on the ice. Throughout the period the Rockets went scoreless, however, the Redhawks would inch a point closer to the Rockets’ lead. Both teams closed the period 2-1, with Needham still hanging on.
As the boys commenced the third period of the night, it was like a lightning bolt rushed through the team as they took control of the ice again. Silencing Barnstable’s power-play, Rockets’ Matt Ledbury drew blood once more for Needham and flung in the team’s third goal of the night after receiving an assisted pass from Joe Kajunski. Barnstable tried to fight back onto the ice, trying to challenge Needham’s forecheck. Still, the Rockets overpowered the Redhawks, sweeping away all of the chances for maintaining possession of the puck. With four minutes left to go into the period, Needhams’ Tommy Peabody and assistant captain Sean Reilly rushed the puck to Matt Rutter once more. Rutter took control of the puck and weaved around Barnstable’s lurking defense, Rutter slammed the puck putting it away into the net, cushioning Needham’s comfortable lead, 4-1. The boys continued to maintain their confidence on the ice, and the fans cheered along throughout the final minutes of the competition. Rockets’ captain Jimmy Kenney found the puck on his stick with just over a minute to go, skating with Rutter by his side, Kenney slipped the puck to Rutter. Rutter went on to score his third goal of the evening, tallying Needham’s fifth goal of the night and the Rockets celebrated their outstanding performance on the ice.
Head coach Michael Hoban was pleased with the guys’ performance on the ice and spoke on how the team adjusted from the second period, he knew it was their confidence that secured them their 5-1 win:“. It’s senior night, it’s the last home game for the seniors, and instead of the first, it was the second period going through the motions. We regrouped after the second, and we came out with in the third with a fire and put it away,” said Hoban.
The Rockets honored seniors: Jimmy Kenney (3); Jack Curran (4); Kieran Dinneen (5); Ryan DiNicola (7); Sean Reilly (9); Eliot Sprott (19); Spencer Clark (21); Jake Sieczkowski (23); Alexander Giancola (24) Dan Chansky (26); and Liam Davison (88).
