RallyNorth.net

Andover too strong for Hillies

Tuesday, January, 15 By Peter A. Martin

Andover juniors George Flanagan and Cam Smith scored two goals each as the Golden Warriors dominated Haverhill 6-0 last night at the Valley Forum in front of an animated crowd of students and parents.

"I think we just got beat by a better club tonight ... they played a great game," said Haverhill head coach Spike Sprague. "I think they are the best team we have faced all year."

Andover received strong offensive performances across the board with Flanagan adding two assists to his goals and senior John Hyslip chipping in three assists to finish off a strong team effort.

"George Flanagan has been great for us since transferring from Phillips (Academy)," said Andover head coach Mario Martiniello. "He is currently our team's point leader and he has just been playing tremendous."

Andover (7-2) opened the scoring three minutes into the game when Flanagan found Smith in the slot to beat the Frank Devito over his right shoulder. Late in the same period, the Andover power play struck when Flanagan beat Devito after some nice puck movement by Andover.

The game began to unravel for the Hillies (1-6-2) early in the second period. Andover's third goal came when a dump-in from Matt Perry was misplayed by Devito behind the net. The puck ricocheted to Flanagan in front and he slotted home an empty-net goal.

Andover's fourth goal came just three minutes later during a 4 on 4. Senior defenseman Mike Taylor rifled home an open shot from the blue line to put the Warriors up 4-0.

"I don't blame anyone for the goals but I thought that, by switching goaltenders, I might shake up the momentum in the game," said Sprague, who put in sophomore Matthew Fairburn. "You have to do something down 4-0."

The shakeup worked briefly and the Hillies controlled the play for the rest of the period, but they were unable to score.

That momentum was finally killed four minutes into the period when Cam Smith scored his second goal of the game to put the Warriors up 5-0. With five minutes remaining in the game, sophomore Alex Patti got the first goal of his high school career.

Andover senior goaltender Nick Drew stopped 21 shots to earn the shutout and lower his goals-against average to 1.27.

"We played solid from start to finish," said Martiniello. "All three lines contributed and we had strong defense and sound goaltending."