FOXBORO –The first day of the final New England Pro Am Hockey tournament of the season has come to a close. The following is a look at the closing games from the first day of the 2019 Midget Fall Classic.
Rink 1 – Central Connecticut Capitals U16 2 vs. Vermont Flames 1:
The Central Connecticut Capitals opened their stint at the 2019 Midget Fall Classic with a win on Saturday evening. They defeated the Vermont Flames 2-1 at the Foxboro Sports Center.
Offense in the contest was tough to come by as the Capitals Tanner Healy and Flames Sawyer Goodwin battled it out from their respective nets. Just one tally in the first, which went late in the frame to Connecticut’s Brody Davidson.
The Flames drew it back to even early in the second half on a goal by Matthew Dubois at 4:31. It remained tied until late when Alex Rodriguez broke things up. The game-winning goal, assisted on by Matthew Kraus – his second assist and game-leading second appoint of the contest – coming at 22:37 of the second half.
Rink 2 – Boston Jr. Bruins Gold 8 vs. 95 Giants U18 2:
It took until the final start time of the night for the Boston Jr. Bruins to make their tournament debut at the 2019 Midget Fall Classic. As the de facto marquee matchup, they made quite the entrance as they laid an 8-2 route on the 95 Giants on Saturday evening at the Foxboro Sports Center.
The deficit was manageable for the Giants at the halftime break, trailing just 3-1. Unfortunately, while they were able to double their offensive output from the first half, the Bruins nearly tripled their’s, dropping in five more to bring the game to its 8-2 final.
Braeden McCabe paced all scorers with two goals and two assists for the Bruins. It was a performance backed up by a pair of points each for teammates Avery Riva (2G), Samuel Hutchinson (1G, 1A), Christopher Allain (1G, 1A) and Frankie Santaniello (2A).
Aiden Boulger was credited with both Giants’ goals.
Rink 3 – Rice Memorial Prep 3 vs. Wonderland Wizards U18 1:
Rice Memorial Prep opened their stay at New England Pro Am Hockey’s 2019 Midget Fall Classic with a win deep on Saturday evening at the Foxboro Sports Center. They took down the Wonderland Wizards 3-1 for their tournament opening victory.
An unassisted score from Frederic Nicolas at 13:49 and a power play goal by Tarmo Pontinen at 14:32 put Rice in front on the scoreboard in the first half. A goal by Jack Whitney halved the deficit for Wonderland by the turn, but Rice was in front for good.
Julien Blouin added a third in the second and Rasmus Kettunen closed the door in the Rice net to close out the 3-1 victory.
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