By Avonlea Cummings
Hometown Weekly Sports Reporter
The fifth-seeded Dover Sherborn Weston boys traveled to the Stoneham arena to compete in their round of eight playoff game against the fourth-seeded Sandwich Blue Knights on Wednesday, March 6. With Andrew Goldstein as a powerhouse defending the net, the Dover Sherborn and Weston boys defied Sandwich’s title and won the game 2-1.
The DS and Weston boys took control of the puck immediately. Junior assistant captain Sam Hinckley had been working on the ice along with sophomore Andrew Cahill and freshman Patrick Benson to make more offensive opportunities on the ice. With just over eight minutes left to go into the first, Hinckley passed the puck to Cahill. Cahill then rapidly swiped the puck to Benson, and Benson sniped the puck past Sandwich’s goalie to seal the first goal of the night. At 4:39 Sandwich would tie up the game 1-1, quickly denying the Ds and Weston team a chance to get comfortable in the lead. The period would end 1-1.
In the second period, senior captain Andrew Goldstein made impressive saves stopping Sandwich in their tracks. After the two minutes were up, Max Niit raced back onto the ice as Brayden McKenna worked his way down the ice after receiving a pass from senior defenseman Cole McEwen. McKenna raced down the left slide of the ice towards the net, with Niit following down on the right, just as he was about to pass the net, McKenna slipped a pass to Niit, and Niit knocked in the puck launching DS and Weston back into the lead 2-1.
Keeping the lead into the third period, Goldstein and the rest of the DS Weston boys locked in and denied any of the Sandwich’s shots. Goldstein saved 35 out of 36 for the evening. DS and Weston secured their win as the buzzer alarmed throughout the arena and the boys toppled on top of one another celebrating another victory in the books.
The last time the team made it this far into the playoffs was in 2007 when head coach Alex Marlow was a player himself on the team. Marlow shared his thoughts on the game, and how the guys are able to face any team that comes their way next: “What we do know is that we can play against a lot of different teams. Since our last stretch of home games at the end of the season, we have faced physical teams, we’ve faced fast teams, skills teams, and more. We know we can play them, this game was two combined in one they’re fast and they can hit, and we were able to overcome that,” said Marlow.
Senior Andrew Goldstein shared his thoughts on reaching his 2006th career save: “It feels great, it’s one of those things where you don't think about it while you’re playing. You don’t keep track and you get there and look back and see four years of hard work. I’m hoping to keep it going,” said Goldstein.
DS and Weston played against the top-seeded Winthrop High on Saturday, March 9th. The DS and Weston boys won the game 2-1 in a shootout, punching their ticket to the championship game to be held at TD Garden on Sunday, March 17.
