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Timberlane Owls Boys Ice Hockey '09-'10

Sat, Mar 06, 2010 07:30 PM @ Timberlane
Team 1 2 3 Total
Merrimack 1 0 1 2
Timberlane 2 1 1 4

Timberlane out-Foxes Merrimack in quarterfinals

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Saturday, March, 06 By David Willis
Staff writer

SALEM, N.H. — With Timberlane out to defend its first state hockey title in program history, Zach Fox once again proved why he is possibly the area’s most feared with the puck on his stick.

The Owls senior tallied two goals in the first 9:06 of play, on his way to a hat trick to propel the Owls to a 4-2 victory over Merrimack in the New Hampshire Division 2 quarterfinals last night.

“From the moment I woke up this morning I just told myself this was not going to be my last game at Timberlane,” said Fox. “It felt incredible to put those two in early. It’s so big to get out to the lead. It wasn’t a perfect game, but we’re ahead to the next round.”

Timberlane (14-6-2, 12-6-1 Division 2) advances to the semifinals to face top-seeded Bow (15-1-2 Division 2) on Wednesday at the Rinks at Exeter. The Owls dealt Bow their only loss of the regular season.

Fox wasted no time putting his Owls ahead. Just 9:21 into regulation, Fox gathered in a loose puck in front of the net and roofed it over Merrimack (11-8-0 Division 2) goalie Brett Grendye’s blocker into the top left corner of the net.

Just four minutes later, Fox added to that advantage. He took a pass from Ryan Lynch at the blue line and blasted a one-timer through traffic that beat the goalie between his pads to up the lead to 2-0. Merrimack cut the lead in half late in the first, but the Owls did not relent.

After Timberlane fired 14 shots with no result in the second, Ross Ferullo made it a two-goal game once again with 12 seconds left in the period. With the Owls on a two-man advantage, David Evans fired a pass to Cam Fagan who slipped a perfect centering pass to Ferullo who punched it into the goal.

Merrimack did add one more goal in the third, but Fox once again had an answer. After a shot was blocked, Fox skated end to end and pushed in an empty-net goal for his third hat trick of the year. He sits at 20 goals for the season.

“That’s Fox,” said Timberlane head coach Andrew Merrick. “He is a dynamic player who turns in big plays. We rely so much on him. We are going to need more big games like this out of him in what we hope is two more games.”

Timberlane goalie Brett LaPerriere was then able to do enough to secure the win. The Owls netminder turned in 19 stellar saves, none better than a pair of point-blank stops — one with his glove and another a butterfly save — to sustain the lead in the second. He also made a save with 12.3 left in the game to keep a one-goal advantage.The goalie received a little help from top blueliner Fagan. After LaPerriere slid to his left to make a save, the puck came loose to his right and Fagan was just able to tip it away from the net before it crossed the goal line.

The Owls were the aggressors throughout the contest, firing a whopping 35 shots on Grendye, including 15 in the second. Timberlane was also whistled for just three penalties, while Merrimack was called for a whopping eight.

“There’s a lot we can improve on,” said Merrick. “We need to bury a few more chances, but it was a good effort and we’re on our way to the semifinals.”

Game Statistics:

Goals: T — Zach Fox 3, Ross Ferullo; M — Kyle Reprecht, Tyler Caron

Assists:  T — David Evans 2, Ryan Lynch, Ferullo, Cam Fagan; M — Davie Downie, Chris Kinney, Casey Bourque 

Saves:  T — Brett LaPerriere 19, M — Brett Brendye 31

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