By Max Clifford
Hometown Weekly Reporter
The Dover-Sherborn-Weston Varsity Ice Hockey team improved to 6-1 on the season with a dramatic late night victory over Littleton on Saturday night. The co-op team put together an all-around effort at Macdowell Arena en route to a 2-1 victory over the visitors.
The opening period of Saturday’s contest was a showdown between the two goaltenders. Dover-Sherborn-Weston saw a trio of early opportunities in front of the net but could not beat the Littleton keeper. Andrew Goldstein was equally tough to crack in the early going, corralling all of the Tigers shots in the opening minutes.
With just over a minute and a half to play in the period, Andrew Marden got some help from the bar, ricocheting a shot off of the cage and into the net for the first score of the game. Patrick Benson got credit for the assist that gave the hosts their first lead.
The game was nearly tied heading into the first intermission, but Goldstein fought through chaos in front of the net to locate the puck and keep the Tigers scoreless in the frame.
With Marden in the penalty box, Goldstein held strong in the net to kill off the Littleton power play. Just minutes later, however, the Tigers got an even strength score to even the score at one all.Neither team could find the go-ahead goal in the closing minutes of the second, sending the squads into intermission tied 1-1.
With just under nine minutes to play in regulation, Littleton put the puck on the doorstep of the Dover-Sherborn-Weston net, but Goldstein was able to kick the puck away in time to preserve the tied score.
With both squads desperate for a score, it was a pair of familiar names coming to the rescue for the home team. In a reversal of their first period roles, Benson was a benefactor of a Marden assist, firing a shot from near the blue line and sneaking it past the Litttleton tender to give his squad a late lead. Sawyer Garzone earned the secondary assist on the go-ahead goal.
The Tigers fired everything they could at Goldstein in the final five minutes of play, but the Dover-Sherborn-Weston goalie stood tall. He finished the night with 25 saves on 26 shots and earned the sixth win of the season for the co-op squad.
