Huskies win D-III championship

PROVIDENCE—Mt. Hope junior forward Ryan Cordeiro scored the game winning goal with 37 seconds left in overtime to give the Huskies a 5-4 game-two victory and a Division III championship title at Brown University’s Meehan Auditorium on Sunday evening. The Huskies won the series 2-0, defeating Pilgrim in game one on Saturday, 5-4.

“We worked hard and never quit. I’m so proud of them right now,” said head coach Steve Ouellette as the team skated a victory lap around the rink after the game.

Mt. Hope scored the first goal of the game on a breakaway by Huskies forward Cameron Rancourt, but they knew they were in for a dog fight.

Pilgrim had dominated play, but at 8:42 in the first period, Rancourt lifted the puck off of a Patriots defenseman on the Huskies blue line and skated down on goaltender Kyle Dimascio. He deked the goalie, switching to his backhand and slid the puck into the net, beating the net minder stick-side, for a Mt. Hope 1-0 lead.

Pilgrim continued to dominate play, scoring the next two goals on Huskies net minder Kyle Depoy. The senior goaltender made 36 saves in the win, but his team found themselves down 2-1, at 7:25 in the second period, when Pilgrim’s Jack Clements scored on a pass from Ty Morgan.

Jack Dolan tied the score three minutes later as he to went in alone and beat Dimascio stick side to tie the game at 2-2.

Defenseman Keegan Hanley scored a power-play goal during a scrum in front of the net at 11:14 of the second period to give the Huskies the lead again at 3-2. But it lasted only 36 seconds as Clements beat Depoy again knotting the score at 3-3.

Third period play had the crowd on the edge of their seats. Each team had multiple scoring bids ending in big saves by Depoy and Dimascio. Cheering from the fans was deafening as the teams kept up a scorching pace. At 10:18, Pilgrim’s Mike Sollenberger standing alone in the slot beat Depoy on a pass from Pat Reilly from behind the net and gave Pilgrim a 4-3 lead. That set the stage for Rancourt.

Game tied

On a power-play with under two minutes left, The Huskies gained the Pilgrim zone and cycled the puck back to defenseman Keegan Hanley, who blistered a shot at Dimascio. The goaltender got a piece of the puck, but it dropped at the feet of Rancourt who was standing on the right side of the net and promptly shoveled it in, tying the game at 4-4.

“My roll on the power play as a big kid, is to stand in front of the net, tip the puck and screen the goalie. Our defenseman, Keegan Hanley, shot it from the point, and I just got the rebound. I was standing right there and just put it into the net. I was just glad that I could tie up the game,” Cameron Rancourt said.

The dog pound went wild!

Directly after the goal, Rancourt skated over to the fans and jumped up onto the glass where the dog pound, naked from the waist up with body painted letters spelling out HUSKIES, were wildly cheering.

“I love our fans, man! I love them. Everything about them. They got spirit,” said Rancourt.

Overtime

Pilgrim again dominated the four on four overtime period blistering several shots at Depoy, who made save after save to keep the Huskies in the game.

With under a minute left in overtime and facing a shoot-out had the period ended tied, the Huskies took a face-off in the Pilgrim zone and kept it there. Pilgrim finally looked tired and the Huskies took advantage. The Huskies managed a couple of shots. Bodies lay in front of the Patriots goal when Rancourt came up with the puck and shot it point blank at Demascio. The goaltender again came up with the save deflecting the puck away from the net. Ryan Cordeiro, standing out in front, saw the puck ooze out from the bodies and blasted it into the right top corner for the win.

“I saw the puck laying right there on the ice. I was right in the middle and I put it in the top-right corner of the net,” said Cordeiro.

“We were winless against them in the regular season. In the finals, we came out and played hard and won the series,” he said.

“Ryan is a strong skater and works through adversity. He is one of our strongest kids,” said coach Ouellette.

The MVP

“Me and my friend Jack Dolan, we’ve been feeding each other the puck back door all year, ‘Jack and the Bean Stalk,’ as we call it,” said game MVP, Cameron Rancourt.

“I kept feeding Jack, getting garbage goals, looking for my teammates and I’m just greatful that we came out with a W. I’m so happy!” said the MVP.

Notes

Line mates Cameron Rancourt, Jack Dolan and Ryan Cordeiro made the most of their opportunities over the two game series. Rancourt had 2 goals and 4 assists, Dolan had 3 goals and 4 assists and Cordeiro had 3 goals.

Goaltender Kyle Depoy made 61 saves for the series.

Defenseman Keegan Hanley scored 2 goals and 1 assist.

The Huskies ended the season with a 17-7 record.