Bruins Defeat Nobles, Advance to Finals

Brunswick punched its ticket to the NEPSIHA Large School Tournament finals on Sunday, as the Bruins topped Nobles by a score of 3-2 in front of a capacity crowd at Hartong Rink on Saturday afternoon. 

The teams went to the locker room tied at one despite 'Wick controlling the play and having the majority of the offensive-zone possession in the opening frame -- finally breaking through with 28 seconds to go on a PPG from junior defenseman Sloan Farmer on a seeing-eye wrister from the blue line.

The Bruins kept pushing in the second, took the lead on a SHG by junior captain James Shannon on a breakaway, and went up by two on sophomore Drew DellaSalla's tally (also assisted by Shannon after he outworked the Bulldogs d-man below the goal line). 3-1 after two. 

The visitors capitalized on an ill-timed icing on the first shift of the third and crept to within one on a point shot after a face-off win. 

But the Bruins stayed the course -- just as Coach Mandes advised prior to the contest -- and didn't give Nobles much of anything from then on in the final frame. Junior goaltender Brendan Holahan made a handful of big stops down the stretch when he had to, and sophomore Casey Quinson had a huge shot block in the final seconds to secure the win. 

Brunswick and Kent will face off for the championship on Sunday at 2 p.m. at Hartong Rink.