’Canes still looking for break-out

Posted 2/11/14

On Jan. 19, the Warwick Vets hockey team played its best game of the season when it pushed cross-town rival Pilgrim – a Division II team – to the brink in a one-goal non-league loss.

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’Canes still looking for break-out

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On Jan. 19, the Warwick Vets hockey team played its best game of the season when it pushed cross-town rival Pilgrim – a Division II team – to the brink in a one-goal non-league loss.

The Hurricanes returned to Division III play the next day, hoping to build on that performance, but instead lost 6-0 to Scituate.

It’s been more of the same since.

The ’Canes were swept in a pair of games this past weekend, falling 4-1 to Scituate on Friday and 9-2 to Ponaganset on Saturday. They’ve now lost five in a row since that solid Pilgrim game and nine in a row overall.

“The boys were ready for that Pilgrim game,” said head coach Mike Boyajian. “Cross-town rival, they were fired up. It’s almost like if I threw a Pilgrim jersey on any other teams, we’d have a different story. It’s just inconsistent from night to night. We’ve got a young team, a lot of inexperience. That confidence comes with age and comes with time. We’re still working on it.”

While there’s some natural frustration that comes with the lack of positive results, the ’Canes understand it’s all part of a process. On Friday, they were without senior captain Kyle Veyera – who was attending a leadership conference for school – and the resulting lineup was even younger than normal. There wasn’t one senior among the nine players who did the bulk of the skating. The group included four freshmen and three sophomores.

“A lot of these guys are still getting to know the game,” Boyajian said. “It’s a process and it’s not something we get angry about it. We understand and learn what we have to do and that’s what we work on in practice.”

Vets was 0-2 against Scituate this season, having lost by 7-0 and 6-0 scores. Friday’s meeting was closer, but the Spartans still had control most of the way.

Greg Fontaine hit the post on a shot for Vets early in the game, and the ’Canes managed to kill off a first-period penalty to keep things scoreless. But just after the power play ended, Scituate broke through. After a face-off win, Jared Pedro blasted a slap shot past Vets goalie Colby Howard to make it 1-0.

The ’Canes struggled to generate consistent offense but kept the Spartans off the scoreboard for the next five minutes. But at the tail end of the first period, Scituate added to its lead. With six seconds left, Lucas Mancinelli took advantage of a turnover in the offensive zone and slipped the puck past Howard for the 2-0 cushion.

“We were a little short-handed tonight, but overall, it was a pretty good game,” Boyajian said. “Once again, it’s about the kids having the confidence in themselves. They have the ability, but they just need to find that confidence to produce in a game situation out on the ice.”

Matt Besser gave Scituate a 3-0 lead just 38 seconds into the second period. Vets almost cut into it on a shot by David Kowalik that nearly slipped into the goal, but the Spartans pulled further away on another goal by Pedro with 3:33 left in the second.

Throughout the period, Vets couldn’t get much going.

“It’s that inexperience – kids second guessing their own ability – what should I do with the puck, when should I bounce it outside,” Boyajian said. “Between the inexperience with the young guys and the inexperience of not being in the game situation, they’re still learning.”

Vets had some solid stretches of hockey in the third period and capped one of them off with its only goal of the night. Jacob Mitchell tucked in a rebound after a shot by Tyler DiPetrillo. Kowalik also assisted.

The ’Canes had a few more chances to get closer, but Kowalik missed wide from the slot after stealing a Scituate pass and Tim Chaffee had a slap shot blocked on a power play chance.

Scituate improved to 7-6 with the victory and now stands at 8-6 after a win Saturday night.

The 0-2 weekend dropped Vets to 1-11 in league play. Boyajian is hoping a faster-paced schedule will help the team find a groove as it hits the stretch run. The ’Canes will play twice every weekend for the final three weeks of the season.

“We haven’t had a lot of back-to-backs, so there’s some rust that comes with that,” Boyajian said. “We’re in a stretch now that we’re playing back-to-backs the next four weekends. I think it’ll certainly help us. It’s building on that emotion. When you lose, being able to come back the next night, we haven’t had that opportunity. Sometimes, it’s helpful to get right back out there and correct the mistakes.”

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  • halloweencostumes

    RI ACLU Stephen Brown Notifies Warwick Minimum Housing Board Violated OMA Open Meetings Act At this meeting the chair jude plante announced there would be no electronics allowed, taping,videoing etc. I objected he related town council atty robt sgroi confirmed they could demand this or call the police if I didn't comply. I shut the tablet off. But I stated I would contact Stephen Brown RI ACLU and AG regarding this violation of open meetings act ri 4246-1. He said alright. I did, Mr Brown sent out notice they violated RI OMA . Town atty Ruggerio related shouldn't of and only Mr Sgroi apologized to me.This was done intentionally to block me . I have had numerous problems with the clerk : annamarie marchetti and she set the attys and board in motion. The day before she told me I couldn't speak at the meeting either.

    Please enter cindy cook ri in google or youtube and you will see videos of the beginning of the meeting where they violate my rights and then the audio I received from the town they made at the meeting. Plus the conditions of the cottage we rent that has numerous code violations. Worst matter is bathroom toilet floods from connector hose and underneath,floor soaked rotted,no seal causing it to move around the floor and it cannot flush. It goes to a 200 gal cesspool and the pipes are broken causing the toilet paper to get caught on them . We have to place a plastic bag across the toilet seat down go then empty it into a barrel through the window. Mayor scott avedisian ,blg dept al decorte are fully aware of this and haven't had it repaired. Alfred esposito, 83yrs old,a vet in his fla condo [not hosp] is listed as owner but his niece cindy r cook and her husband barry cook really are the owners. Uncle esposito let them put it in his name in 2003 whereas they filed bankruptcy in 2000 etc and couldn't put it in their names. Barry and cindy had a real estate business he was on east providence housing board,councilman , vp citizens bank 17yrs so the know they should never of rented this uninhabitable property especially to an elderly disabled senior and her caregiver. The water bill hasn't been paid since 2009 $2,100 , lien whereas uncle esposito co-sign for niece cindy's business which failed and they haven't paid rent on this leased land for several mos.Moved in oct & gave them $2,250.The links to the RI ACLU Stephen Brown's letters and town atty.http://tinyurl.com/q7furx3

    Tuesday, February 11, 2014 Report this