Drury Hockey Wins Third Straight

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires.com Sports
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SHEFFIELD, Mass. -- Just before the end of 2018, the Drury hockey team suffered a loss that some might find heart-breaking.
 
Problem is, the Blue Devils have too much heart.
 
Drury, which rang out the old year with a loss on a last-minute penalty shot, is a perfect 3-0 in 2019 after topping Mount Everett, 4-1, on Wednesday night at the Berkshire School.
 
“As a team, I think we’re working really well together, and we stuck our heads together and said, ‘You know what? We don’t want to be a below .500 team,’ ” Drury’s Corbin Rumbolt said of the team’s reaction to the Dec. 29 loss to Amherst. “I think we’re doing well doing it. We’re putting our work in, doing what we need to do in practice, doing sprints.
 
“I think we just stuck together, got more more work, got more heart out of us. That’s what’s driven us.”
 
Rumbolt had a goal and two assists on Wednesday as Drury improved to 4-2-2.
 
Drury coach Kevin Ellingwood said that while the Amherst game did not go his team’s way, it pointed to how competitive the Blue Devils can be.
 
“Those teams -- Belchertown, Amherst, Easthampton -- we weren’t even in games with them last year,” Ellingwood said. “So for us to be even with them in the third period, we’re doing well. We’re doing the right thing.
 
“Other than how it turned out in the third period, it was a good effort. For us to be even with an Amherst or a Belchertown, we’re doing some good things.”
 
On Tuesday, Rumbolt got things going in the right direction when he tipped in a Caleb Rondeau blast from the point to give Drury a 1-0 lead in the 11th minute of the game.
 
But Mount Everett (0-6-1) answered when Max Joyner fired a shot from outside the blueline that found the back of the net to make it 1-1.
 
“We tried something different,” Mount Everett coach Aidan Gilligan said. “We moved Max up to forward tonight, and I thought he had a great game up front. He scored for us, had a couple of good shots. We’ll try to keep doing that and get him some better looks.”
 
In the back, Cole Duval made 32 saves for the Eagles, including 16 in the second period, when Drury started to take control of the game.
 
The Blue Devils broke through for the eventual game-winner with a power-play goal in the 25th minute.
 
Rumbolt fed Toby Ellingwood from behind the goal, and Ellingwood finished to make it 2-1.
 
Corey Callander (21 saves) made that lead stand up.
 
“Corey did a solid job,” coach Ellingwood. “Literally, what I said to him after second period was, ‘Keep us in the game and give us a chance for that.’ He did exactly that. Solid game by our senior goaltender.”
 
The Blue Devils rewarded Callander with a couple of insurance goals in the third period. First, Zach Wilson scored on a blast from just inside the blue line less than a minute into the stanza. Then, midway through the period, Mitch Andrews scored off an offensive zone faceoff win by Rumbolt to make it 4-1.
 
Mount Everett will look for its first win on Saturday when it hits the road to face Chicopee. Drury Saturday goes to UMass to play Belchertown before coming home to face Greenfield next Wednesday night.
 
“We’re on a three-game winning streak,” Callander said. “We have to play Belchertown next. I think it’s important that we keep the same energy up for them.”
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