Brunswick and Westy Battle to 2-2 Tie

In a fantastic prep-school hockey game — with outstanding goaltending on both sides and skill and grit up front and on the back end for each team — Brunswick and Westminster battled to a 2-2 tie after 59 minutes of action this afternoon at Jackson Rink in Simsbury, Conn. 
 
Junior forward Oliver Czaja banged in a rebound and staked the visitors to a 1-0 advantage in the first, but the Martlets took control of the contest for the extent of the second and scored back-to-back goals to snatch the lead. If not for ’Wick senior goaltender Will Baker and a huge two-minute 5-v-3 PK late in the frame, the Bruins surely would have had a bigger hole to climb out of in the third. 
 
But the visitors regrouped at the intermission and talked about making the last period of the night their best period of the night — and they did just that. 
 
Senior Brendan Giles knotted the tilt at two with a shorthanded goal early in the final 18 minutes, catching the Westy netminder by surprise and banking in a shot off his body from below the icing line. 
 
The teams played even strength from there and both had their share of chances to win it — the Bruins certainly with the best of the looks in overtime, with at least two or three high-quality opportunities to clear the benches. 
 
Fittingly, though, things ended in a draw. 
 
Baker was the Bruins’ star of the game with 40 saves. 
 
Rivers next at the St. Seb’s Tourney on Friday at 8 p.m.