Barrington boys defeat Portsmouth, advance to finals

Eagles outscore Patriots, 7-4, sweep semifinals series

By Mathew Galvao
Posted 3/17/18

The Barrington High School boys hockey team advanced to the Division II finals after defeating Portsmouth 7-4 in the second game of the semifinals series. 

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Barrington boys defeat Portsmouth, advance to finals

Eagles outscore Patriots, 7-4, sweep semifinals series

Posted

The Barrington High School boys’ hockey team defeated Portsmouth High School in game two of the Division-II semifinal on Friday night, giving the Eagles the series sweep and an opportunity to defend their crown as reigning champions. 

“Incredible third period. The boys dug deep and found another gear to go when we were down 3-2, they’re all in,” said Barrington head coach Kevin Croke on his team’s third-period comeback win. 

“Matt Spears and his line with Luke Rudman and Dominic Robidoux saved their best game for the last five minutes.” 

The Eagles took the lead early as they did Thursday night, this time Brendan Ridlon snapped the puck past Matthew Nordhill from the slot to give Barrington the 1-0 advantage five minutes into the period. 

With just under eight minutes remaining in the first, Portsmouth found the back of the net on the power play when junior Michael Alves fired a puck from the blue line past Matthew Hosey to tie the game at 1-1. 

Portsmouth got right back on the scoresheet as sophomore Connor Little banged home a rebound to put the Patriots up 2-1 heading into the second period. 

“We talked today before the game and said we needed a hot start which I thought we did,” said Portsmouth head coach Bryan Kriner. “Everything I wanted to adjust the guys responded well and performed out there.” 

The second period saw Barrington tie things up when senior Luke Rudman picked up the loose puck behind Nordhill and tapped it home to tie things up 2-2 for the Eagles with 12:10 left in the middle frame. 

Each team had their opportunities as the period went on but the game would remain a 2-2 tie heading into the final period. 

The Patriots got on the scoresheet early in the third as defenseman John Cavanagh rocketed a puck past Hosey on the man advantage to give Portsmouth a 3-2 edge with 11:38 left in the game. Barrington came back with 6:12 remaining to tie the game up 3-3 when sophomore Jacob Andreozzi snapped the puck glove side on Nordhill. 

Rudman tallied his second goal of the game wristing a shot over Nordhill’s glove side giving the Eagles a 4-3 lead. Barrington wasn’t done yet as freshman Matthew Spears notched his first of two goals in the game putting the Eagles up 5-3 with 3:42 remaining in the game. 

“We talked in between periods about settling down. Settling down, not panicking and moving the puck out,” Croke said of his adjustments during intermission. “Our mantra is win your one-on-one battles, win your shift, win the period, win the game and they certainly did that in the third period.” 

With under two minutes to go Portsmouth opted to pull the goaltender in favor of the extra attacker. Spears came down the ice and buried the empty-netter bringing the Eagles lead to 6-3. Both teams exchanged goals late and Barrington captured the 7-4 win and a chance to play in the championship series next weekend. 

‘Deep roster’

“There’s a reason they (Barrington) are the defending champs. They’re good, they have a deep roster. We fought as hard as we could,” Mr. Kriner explained after the Patriots loss in the Division-II semifinals. “A couple bounces go our way maybe it’s a different game. They’re (Barrington) the best.” 

Barrington is now headed to its second straight championship appearance. However, for freshman Matthew Spears, the game two hero, it will be his first shot at playing for a championship. 

“It’s a great experience. I’ll probably never experience something like this. The seniors are great, the coaching staff is great. Nothing more I could ask for,” said Spears.

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Jim McGaw

A lifelong Portsmouth resident, Jim graduated from Portsmouth High School in 1982 and earned a journalism degree from the University of Rhode Island in 1986. He's worked two different stints at East Bay Newspapers, for a total of 18 years with the company so far. When not running all over town bringing you the news from Portsmouth, Jim listens to lots and lots and lots of music, watches obscure silent films from the '20s and usually has three books going at once. He also loves to cook crazy New Orleans dishes for his wife of 25 years, Michelle, and their two sons, Jake and Max.