By: Justin Ivey, Beat Writer New England Black Wolves
The New England Black Wolves (6-4) sit in second place in the East after defeating the Rochester Knighthawks (6-6) at home Friday night. Quite a few Rochester fans took the drive to the Mohegan Sun Arena, only to be disappointed as their team never led in the game. New England looked composed throughout, using a stifling defense and fluid offense to outduel their East division rival. Final score: New England—16, Rochester 13.
A playoff tone was apparent as both teams took the field for the first quarter. The first six minutes were full of long possessions and very few good shots from either side as the defenses took control. Shawn Evans (5G, 6A) finally put the first goal of the game past Rochester goalie Matt Vinc. The shot was a beautiful underhand roller through the five hole. The Black Wolves defense really showed they were one of the best in the league as they allowed no goals in the first quarter. Tye Belanger got his first start of the season between the pipes and was lights out when the defense did allow a shot through. Pat Saunders (4G, 2A) scored the only other goal of the first quarter to put the Black Wolves up 2-0.
New England would go up 4-0 just 5:51 into the second, with goals from Kevin Crowley (1G, 9A) and Kevin Buchanan (2G, 2A). Stephen Keough (5G, 2A) would finally put one on the board for the Knighthawks 6:15 in. But within two minutes New England would score two more for a 6-1 lead. This was deja-vu for these two teams. Last weekend Rochester was down 6-1 to New England at home only to come back and win that game 17-13. Rochester would cut the lead to 8-4 going into the half, largely on the back of Keough, who had the hat trick before the break.
Frustration of the low scoring defensive game led to a lot of penalties in the third quarter. Three bench minors as well, two on New England and one on Rochester. Joe Walters (4G, 1A) would strike first just 28 seconds in cutting the Black Wolves lead to three. Shawn Evans would answer with a shorthanded goal just less than two minutes in. Keough would answer to once again cut the lead to three, but New England would then score three in a row to go up 12-6. Joe Walters would score for Rochester with three seconds left and on the power play to end the quarter down 12-7.
With a five goal lead going into the fourth, the game appeared in control. But anything is possible. New England tallied the first goal 2:29 in. Rochester would score three of the next four and trying to get some momentum, would experiment with the extra attacker when they could. It backfired, as Evans scored on an empty net with just under three minutes remaining putting New England up 15-10. Rochester would make it interesting after that scoring three goals within a minute to cut the deficit to just two with one minute remaining. New England would hold them off and put in one more empty netter before the end. Final Score: NE-16, ROC-13
NEXT UP:
With the season series tied at one a piece, these teams meet again tonight in Rochester. They will meet one more time before the season is over.
Justin Ivey, Beat Writer New England Black Wolves
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