Last night, the Tewksbury Redmen opened their 2013-14 Varsity Hockey season against Haverhill and played nothing short of impressive. With three former Redmen hockey players looking on in Derek Petti, Tyler Slavin, and Pat Doherty, the boys skated away with a 3-0 victory to start the year.
Tewksbury didn't wait too long to light the lamp in their opener. Just 2:53 into the first period, Senior Jack Cash took that duty as he put home a pass from Ryan Petti. The secondary assist on that goal was given to Senior Captain Ross "Scotty" Budryk.
Only a few minutes later, Dario Riparo wristed a shot, off of a rebound, past Haverhill goaltender Zach Grundy. Tewksbury also had themselves a powerplay which resulted in many good chances, yet no goals. The Redmen seemed to dominate in the first.
The second period of last night's game was much more even. Within the first half of the period, Haverhill had several shots on net, a couple scoring chances even, though nothing was getting by Kyle Paquette.
Amidst the heavy attack by Haverhill in the second, the puck did manage to go down to their own end on a few occasions, and 7:55 into the period, Brett Morris ripped home a slapshot with the primary assist given to Ryan Meade. Tewksbury took the 3-0 lead into the locker room.
The third was a much quieter period offensively as no goals were scored on either side, despite some solid chances. Although, a handful of penalties were given out including matching unsportsmanlike conduct penalties on Tewksbury's Jack Cash and Haverhill's Harry O'Donoghue.
All in all, Tewksbury took home the big W. Good game all around for the Redmen. Tewksbury next takes the ice this upcoming Saturday when they play at Merrimack College against North Andover at 7:20 PM.
