Titans use strong first period to surge past rival Pats

Matt Metcalf, Assistant Sports Editor
Posted 1/27/15

The Toll Gate boys’ hockey team scored two goals in the first period on Friday night and never looked back in an eventual 4-2 win over cross-city rival Pilgrim.

The Pats were sluggish out of …

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Titans use strong first period to surge past rival Pats

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The Toll Gate boys’ hockey team scored two goals in the first period on Friday night and never looked back in an eventual 4-2 win over cross-city rival Pilgrim.

The Pats were sluggish out of the gates, as the Titans outshot them 17-3 in the first period. Freshman goaltender M.J. Rocheleau did all that he could in-between the pipes for Pilgrim, turning aside 15 of the 17 shots he faced in the first period and 39 of 43 in the game. The Pats lacked defensive structure, surrendering far too many high-quality scoring chances – making it tough for Rocheleau, who was giving up very few second-chance opportunities.

“We understand, as a team, what we have to do,” Pilgrim head coach Steve Henn. “We have to win every single shift. When we buy-in to the type of hockey that we want to play, we can control games. We were our own worst enemy tonight in the sense that we didn’t play our style.”

The Titans were able to break a scoreless tie about midway through the opening period.

After Pilgrim’s Matt Parente was sent to the box for holding, Toll Gate capitalized on its man advantage.

With just one second remaining on the power play, Sean Vittum collected the puck in the attacking zone after Pilgrim failed to clear the puck, and ripped a wrist shot top-shelf, giving the Titans a 1-0 lead. Jack Sullivan tallied a helper on the goal.

Toll Gate’s power play was efficient in the win, as three of its four goals in the game came on the power play.

“Sometimes we were stagnant for too long, but we kept control of the puck,” Toll Gate head coach Mike Champagne said of his power play. “Some of them were ugly goals because we were just sending the puck to the net. Even if it’s not beautiful backdoor, we were still sending pucks to the net. It’s something we’ve been working on and it’s nice to see it payoff.”

Less than a minute later, Toll Gate forward Will Fox fired a shot off the right pad of Rocheleau, which ricocheted right to Andrew Martin on the doorstep, who buried the puck into a vacant cage. Fox and Connor Sullivan assisted on Martin’s goal that put the Titans up 2-0.

Pilgrim settled in after the first period, as it began to pick up its pace of play.

As a result, the Pats played the Titans to a 1-1 tie in the second period, even though Toll Gate again held an advantage in shots, 12-6.

“It came down to work in this game,” Henn said. “All it takes is the mental discipline to buy-in to playing the right way. A lot of times what’s right isn’t always easy.”

The Pats cut the game to 2-1 just 3:07 into the second period.

Pat Reilly broke into the attacking zone on a two-on-one and hit an open Dean Russo, who one-touched the puck into an empty net. Nolan McCusker also was given an assist on the play.

Toll Gate answered six minutes later, however, as Vittum cleaned up a shot from the point by Anthony Ottone for his second power-play goal of the game, giving the Titans a 3-1 lead.

The Pats continued to play Toll Gate fairly even into the third period as well, tying the Titans, 1-1, in the final period, as well.

At the 6:36 mark of the third period, Ottone scored a goal of his own on the power play, this time getting a shot through traffic to up Toll Gate’s lead to 4-1.

Three minutes later, Pilgrim made it 4-2, when Morgan Almon found Elias Pariseau in the slot, who one-timed a shot past Brendan Aunchman.

Luckily for Toll Gate, that was the last shot that beat Aunchman in the game, as the first-year goaltender stopped 17 of the 19 shots that he faced.

Champagne was impressed with his goalie, particularly because of the way the game played out.

“It was a tough game for him because the shots were coming in spurts and there were a lot at the end of the game,” Champagne said.

With the loss, Pilgrim is still left searching for its first win in Division II, as it currently sits in last place with a 0-9 record.

However, with nine games remaining, Henn is confident that his team will improve by the end of the season.

“We’re here trying to get better,” Henn said. “We took a giant step back today. This week, we’ll look to take a step forward because we have a lot of hockey left to play.”

The Pats will be back in action on Friday, when they travel to Smithfield to play North Smithfield at 7 p.m.

Toll Gate, on the other hand, sits at 2-7-1 after the win. It will look to carry some momentum from this game forward, as the Titans try to make a playoff push.

The Titans will play again on Friday, as they’ll host Rogers/Middletown/Rocky Hill Co-op at 6 p.m. at Thayer Arena.

“We simplified the game and played the right way and it led to a good victory,” Champagne said.

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