Raiders gain revenge, spot in Div. 3 North title game
Gardiner scores twice as Raiders beat Wayland; Watertown High boys’ hockey team to play for sectional title Friday vs. Bedford
Raider Times photo / Heidi Kennedy
Tyler Gardiner scored twice Tuesday as the Watertown High boys’ hockey beat Wayland, 4-1, in the MIAA Division 3 North tournament. The Raiders return to the Chelmsford Forum on Friday, March 6, to play Bedford for the sectional title.
March 5, 2015
Victory is sweet; revenge is sweeter.
One year removed from a heartbreaking, 1-0, overtime loss to Wayland, in which he was robbed on an overtime breakaway, junior Tyler Gardiner redeemed himself with two goals Tuesday in a 4-1 victory to help Watertown High earn a place in the Division 3 North championship game.
“I think we did a really good job of trapping Wayland, and kept the pressure in their zone a lot,” said Gardiner. “We kept it down low and cycled really well, and were able to force it in front of the net and get a couple of goals that way.”
The seventh-seeded Watertown High boys’ hockey team (13-3-7) will return to Chelmsford Forum on Friday, March 6, to play No. 8 Bedford (13-6-3). Puck drop at the Billerica rink is 6:30 p.m.
Senior goaltender Anthony Busconi (25 saves) turned in his usual standout performance between the pipes for the Raiders, and juniors Nick Martino and Michael Giordano added a goal each as Watertown avenged last year’s defeat with a convincing victory.
“We took away their good forwards, and that was the key going into the game,” said senior captain Brendan Berkeley. “Their first line was important for us to take away, and that was key for their offense all year.”
The lone bright spot for the Warriors was the play of Andrew Ludwig in goal, who played a deceptively strong game. The sophomore was instrumental in keeping his time in contention and made 23 saves in the defeat.
Despite dominating the game’s opening minutes and tallying the first six shots on goal, the Raiders found themselves behind early. Wayland’s very first shot, by Warrior captain Nick Morgan, found its way past Busconi and put his team up six minutes into the game.
Martino needed just two minutes, however, to bring his team back into the game. Finding himself in a 2-on-1 situation with linemate Jeff Comeau and one Wayland defender sprawled across the ice and blocking the passing lane, Martino kept his calm in front of goal, picking out the top corner over Ludwig’s glove with a whistling wrist shot to level the game at 1.
It was Gardiner who would put the Raiders in the lead for the first time five minutes into the second period. Putting his speed on display, Gardiner chipped the puck off of the boards and into the offensive zone, blew past one defender, shielded the puck from another defender, and flipped a backhander over Ludwig’s glove and into the top corner to give Watertown a 2-1 lead.
Things got a little tense for the Raiders as they found themselves under a lot of pressure in the late stages of the game. But Busconi, another Raider captain, turned into an absolute brick wall, making save after save over the last period and a half to keep the lead alive.
The Raiders appeared to earn some breathing room three minutes into the final period when freshman Timmy Connors’s backhander squeezed past Ludwig, but the goal was quickly waved off and the one-goal lead stood.
However, when Giordano’s rebound fell to Gardiner in front, there was no doubt, as the Raider junior buried the game-sealing goal, his 11th in his last six games.
Gardiner picked up an assist in the final minute, with Ludwig pulled, flipping the puck high out of the defensive zone. Giordano gloved it down in the neutral zone and put the puck in the empty net to complete the 4-1 victory.
The win provides closure for a Raider team still haunted by their overtime loss, in the same round to the same time, in last year’s tournament.
“After losing last year, it definitely felt great to come back and win,” said Gardiner.
They now move on to face Bedford for the Division 3 North title.
As the stakes continue to rise with each passing game, they’re even bigger for a group of seniors fighting not to keep just their seasons alive, but their high school careers.
“It’s something to think about, knowing every game could be my last high school game,” said Berkeley. “It’s hard to think that every time could be the last time I lace up with all of these guys. We just want to keep playing the way we’ve all been playing, and we want it to keep going, I love these guys.”
–March 5, 2015–
