Andrews Scores Pair to Lift Drury Past Wahconah
PITTSFIELD, Mass. -- The Drury hockey team used its special teams to move one step closer to a special season.
The Blue Devils scored three times on the power play and once on a 4-on-4 to earn a 4-3 win over Wahconah at the Boys and Girls Club of the Berkshires.
Mitch Andrews scored twice and set up a goal, and Nathan Haley stopped 30 shots as Drury moved a game over .500 with two games left to play. If the Blue Devils get a point either Sunday against Easthampton or Wednesday against Southwick, it will earn a berth in the Western Massachusetts tournament.
“Our power play was moving the puck great,” Drury coach Kevin Ellingwood said. “We were getting some great looks and shots. I’m very, very pleased with that and the special teams.
“We thought there were going to be quite a few penalties in this game, so we did practice quite a bit for that.”
After senior Aiden Kotski got Wahconah on the board with an assist from Ryan LaPierre to open the scoring in the fourth minute, Drury earned back-to-back power plays in the seventh and eighth minutes.
Wahconah managed to kill off 53 seconds of a two-man advantage, but Caleb Rondeau converted the man-up opportunity to tie the game with 6 minutes, 16 seconds left in the period.
Drury ended up earning the game’s first five power play chances, and the No. 5, midway through the second period, led to Andrews’ first goal, an unassisted tally that put the Blue Devils on top for good.
The Blue Devils’ penalty kill unit proved just as effective, holding off Wahconah on three power-play tries to round out the second and preserve that 2-1 lead. On one of those man-up opportunities, Drury did not surrender a shot on goal.
Andrews, who has five goals in his last three games, scored on a 4-on-4 in the first minute of the third period to extend Drury’s lead to 3-1.
Wahconah’s Mason Alfonso scored on LaPierre’s second assist of the game to get their team back within a goal midway through the period.
But Blue Devil blueliner Sam Garvey scored on a blast from the left side for a power-play goal with less than two minutes left to push it back to a two-goal advantage.
Drury ended up 3-for-7 on man-up opportunities. As important to Ellingwood, his team stayed out the box, allowing Wahconah just the three second-period power plays.
“We didn’t have one penalty in the third period, that was a huge difference,” he said. “That was actually a goal going in. Kudos to the kids for executing that part of the plan.”
Wahconah got a goal from Luke Peplowski with 29 seconds on the clock and pulled its goalie to try to get the equalizer, but Drury closed the door.
Jake Risley made 30 saves in goal for Wahconah, which goes to Chicopee on Monday before finishing the season at home against South Hadley on Tuesday.
Drury has a special 11 a.m. faceoff on Sunday against Easthampton at Peter W. Foote Vietnam Veterans Memorial Rink.