The Titans scored five, third period goals en route to a 7 – 1 win over the Northeast Generals last night at the New England Sports Village. Brendan Dumas had four points while Tommy Bannister had three, and Nick Ring scored twice, including his first junior career goal.
The Titans opened the scoring at 8:37 into the first period on Dumas’ third goal of the season. As the Generals Brent Keefer was bringing the puck out of his own zone, Dumas stripped him of the biscuit, and it went right to Bannister in the slot. As Bannister went towards the net, he made a pass to Dumas on his right and Dumas redirected the puck past Northeast’s goalie Cullen DeYoung to make it a 1 – 0 game.
The Generals would tie the game with 3:35 left in the first. With the Titans pressuring in the offensive zone, defenseman Owen Luik took a shot from the slot that was blocked out front and the rebound went to Northeast’s, Joe Schubert who carried the puck through center ice and into the offensive zone. As Schubert gained the line on a two-on-one, he passed it to a trailing Douglas Friberg on his left. Friberg took a wrist shot that beat Titans netminder Andrew Takacs high blocker side to make it a 1 – 1 game.
With 3:31 remaining in the second period, Northeast Matt Boczar received a five-minute major for head contact as well as a two-minute penalty for unsportsmanlike contract to give the Red Buckets the man advantage. With three seconds remaining in the middle stanza, captain Stephen Willey gave the Titans a 2 – 1 lead. Michael Young picked up the loose puck along the far side half wall and sent it back to Levente Keresztes at the point. Keresztes took a wrist shot on net that was redirected out front by Willey and past DeYoung for this third goal of the season.
Since Boczar’s five-minute major carried over into the third period, the Titans took a 3 – 1 lead just seventeen seconds into the final period on Ring’s first goal of the evening. After the opening draw, the puck went back into the Titans zone where it was picked up by Anthony Mollica who passed it up to Bannister at the center ice. As Bannister entered the offensive zone, he passed it over to Ring on his right and the Hingham, MA native took a wrist shot that beat DeYoung short side for Ring’s first junior career goal.
The Titans went up 4 – 1 on a nice play from Bannister to Anthony Calafiore. Bannister picked up the loose puck at center ice and entered the offensive zone near the far side boards. As Bannister went to the net, he started to circle behind it but made a beautiful centering pass out front to Calafiore who redirected the puck past DeYoung to give the Red Buckets a commanding three goal lead.
Keresztes, Ring and Brandon Avezov lit the lamp to close out the scoring and make it a 7 – 1 game.
Takacs turned aside 24 of 25 shots while DeYoung stopped 39 of 46. Click here for the box score.
The two teams will conclude their two-game series tonight at 7:00PM at the New England Sports Village.