Bruins Earn Gutsy OT Win, Advance to Finals

In front of a capacity crowd and perhaps the best student section in New England, Brunswick earned a gutsy 3-2 overtime victory against St. Sebastian’s to advance to tomorrow’s finals here at the Mutch Cup Tournament in Needham, Mass.
 
The message to the boys was that we had to take a step forward as a team today — and learn how to win a low-scoring game against a very solid hockey team. That might mean weathering a storm in the defensive end, sacrificing your body to block a shot, or chipping a puck deep and heading for a line change when you might want to take one last rush. 
 
Message received, as the Bruins played a near-perfect first half and went to the break with a 1-0 lead on a goal by junior Eli Friedman, the beneficiary of a puck lying on the goal line after a nice entry and pass to the slot by sophomore Drew DellaSalla and shot from junior d-man Sloan Farmer. 
 
The Arrows, who entered the contest 5-1 on the year, didn’t go quietly into the sleety Massachusetts early evening — and scored twice in the first 11 minutes of the second half to snatch the lead and get their home crowd fueled and fired up. 
 
But the Bruins dug right back in and answered 35 seconds later on a tip from junior co-captain Hank Cleaves to show some resilience of their own. Assists went to fellow classmate and co-captain James Shannon and junior Lucas St. Louis. 
 
Seb’s had a power play in the final two minutes of regulation and some of the examples above were on full display from Brunswick while killing it off and sending things to overtime.
 
In the extra session, DellaSalla won a face-off clean to senior d-man John Burdett, who walked the line and fed Friedman on the near-side boards on a set play. The Yale commit took a few steps and fired a snapper that ultimately hit off linemate Brendan Giles’ body and bounced in for the GWG.
 
Junior Brendan Holahan made some big stops throughout the contest to earn the win between the pipes. 
 
Finals are next against Northwood tomorrow at 3 p.m.