Danvers Peewee A’s bid for State Championship

The Falcons traveled to Springfield to represent District II in the Massachusetts State Peewee hockey championship on March 11. Despite a valiant team effort, the Falcons came up just short in the quarterfinals to end their bid. The Falcons beat their first two opponents, Woburn and Somerville, handily and fought to the end in a fierce contest with Charlestown.

Danvers 4 Woburn 2
The Falcons met up with an oversized Woburn team on Friday evening and found themselves down two goals early before stepping up their play. Jason Carucci put the first score on the board on a nifty backhander while the team was shorthanded. Line mates Brad Vautour, Pat McBride and Joe Szela were very productive pasting shot after shot on the Woburn goalie. Eventually Szela evened the score with a nice shot in front that snuck under the goalie’s pads; he was assisted by Vautour and Witwicki. The momentum was starting to swing in favor of the Falcon blue. Carucci would net the eventual game winner in the middle period slamming home a loose puck in the crease following a great pass from DJ Yost. Woburn continued to pressure the Danvers skaters but the tremendous defensive play of Luke Sutherland and Dan Arnold to close out the final minutes of the period proved too much for Woburn. The Falcons played a strong final period of defense led by Taylor Brown and Tom Conway. Zach Ryan and Chris Kontos teamed up to squeeze a Woburn skater from advancing to the blue line stripping him of the puck and sending him sprawling to the ice. Kevin St. Pierre was noted for his fine defensive play throughout. And net minder Mike Allain made an outstanding diving save to help his own cause. Will Walfield continued the pressure with a slick wrist shot that was snagged out of thin air at the last moment by the Woburn goalie. Kyle Larson finally put the game out of reach on the team’s second shorthanded goal of the game off a nice pass from Yost from behind the net. Witwicki was noted for his pesky play and strong fore checking to upset the Woburn attack.

Danvers 8 Somerville 0
The story of the game was the dominating Falcon defense that allowed just one shot on net. All was quiet for net minder Mike Allain who had a relatively easy go of it which may have been an ominous sign of what might be coming later in the second game of the day. Ryan was a force on defense controlling the blue line and ripping off several slap shots. Line mate St. Pierre got into the action as well with some fine offensive action including a wrap around shot that was just saved. Sutherland and Arnold were dominating and took control of the puck at the blue line. Sutherland was noted for his fine offensive rush up ice. Brown and Conway teamed up to control the ice in front of Allain. Brown earned an assist as in the middle period off a slap shot that was tipped in. As impressive as the defense was so too was the offensive pressure. The Falcons managed sixty shots on net and were clearly no match for Somerville. Will Walfield wasted no time and put the game winner into the net in the opening minutes of the game. The Falcon offense was on fire with additional goals from Brad Vautour, Jason Carucci, DJ Yost (2), Joe Szela (2) and Tom Conway. Earning assists were Brown (2), Zach Ryan, St Pierre (2), Conway (3), Yost (2), Pat McBride, and Vautour.

Danvers 0 Charlestown 2
In the most challenging game of the tournament, the Falcons played strong two way hockey and actually out shot the Townies but still came up short. Mike Allain was the star of the game making several highlight real saves to keep the game close. Allain managed to shut down an aggressive attack including three breakaways to rob the Townies of sure goals. The Falcons managed to work the puck in close and got some quality shots on net. Kyle Larson got off a wicked shot that Derek Witwicki tried to rebound in. Kevin St Pierre lead a shift up ice and managed another solid shot on net. Line mates Brad Vautour, DJ Yost and Witwicki demonstrated some nifty passing to generate some scoring opportunities just before the period end. The pressure was on and would continue through to the final minutes of the game. Will Walfield, Luke Sutherland and Chris Kontos were noted for their back checking attack to upset the Townies. Jason Carucci got a key shot on net as he split the defense for a scoring opportunity. The Falcons continued to fight until the siren sounded and gave Charlestown their biggest scare of the tournament. They ended the tournament with a respectable 2 to 1 record and clearly gave everything that they had.