Jr. Redmen Squirt AAA Hockey Team kicks off playoffs with a 4-0 win.

The Jr. Redmen Squirt AAA Hockey Team kicked off the playoffs on Sunday March 30th with a dominating 4-0 win over the Framingham Jr. Flyers at a packed Breakaway Ice Center in Tewksbury.

The Jr. Redmen have been playing great hockey lately, going 9-0-1 in their last 10 games but they knew they would have their hands full with a  fast skating, talented Framingham team.  The Jr. Redmen set the tone early getting immediate offensive zone pressure from the line of Alex Pescatore, Brady Chapman, and Conor Cremin.  Any early attempts  by Framingham to get pucks to the Jr. Redmen net were thwarted by great defensive play from Jack Griffin and Andrew Grieco.  The Jr. Redmen got on the scoreboard first with 6:03 left in the 1st period when Sean Murphy’s tenacious work in front of the Framingham net paid off as he fired a rebound into the back of the net, assist to Timmy Sweeney.  The Jr. Redmen went on the powerplay with just over 2 minutes to play in the period and increased their lead to 2-0 thanks to great puck movement which led to a goal-mouth goal by Jake McDonough, assists going to Jason Cooke and Sean Murphy.

 The 2nd period started with Framingham controlling play in the Jr. Redmen zone.  The kids from Framingham were unable to get on the scoreboard thanks to the great goaltending of Ben O’Keefe, who made a series of saves that even had the referees cheering for him.  The Jr. Redmen had back-to-back chances to add to their lead with just over 8 minutes to play in the 2nd period but point blank shots by Billy Doherty and Maci Chapman were turned away.  The Jr. Redmen kept attacking and scored a pretty goal on the powerplay with 7:03 left in the period when Sean Murphy scored his 2nd goal of the game on a bomb from the high slot, assist to Justin Rooney.  Framingham turned up the pressure and controlled the puck in the Jr. Redmen zone for the next 3 minutes but were unable to put the puck into the back of the net thanks to great goaltending by Ben O’Keefe and outstanding defensive work from Andrew Della Piana, Andrew Grieco, Timmy Sweeney, and Justin Rooney. 

The Jr. Redmen opened the 3rd period knowing they would have to increase their level of intensity to close out this game with the win.  Early scoring chances by Conor Cremin, Alex Pescatore, and Brady Chapman were turned away by the Framingham goalie.  Framingham went on the powerplay with just over 3 minutes to play and immediately pulled their goalie for a 6-on-4 advantage but great penalty killing from Andrew Grieco and Jack Griffin kept the shutout in tact for the Jr. Redmen.  The Jr. Redmen increased their lead to 4-0 on the PK when Billy Doherty made a great defensive play at his own blue line to break up a Framingham forward.  Jason Cooke then swooped in and picked up the loose puck, skated around a Framingham defender and fired a shot from center ice into the back of the net.  The Jr. Redmen controlled play for the final 2 minutes of the game securing the 4-0 win and a date in the semi-finals on Saturday April 5th.