BROCKTON, Mass. - It was always going to be an uphill battle for Milford on Saturday afternoon in the Div. 2 South quarterfinal. The Hawks were riding the momentum of a thrilling overtime win over North Attleboro, which was the program’s first ever win in the state tournament, and now traveled to Asiaf Arena to take on top seed Westwood, a program that has made the postseason for a state record 33 straight years.
Milford battled from the opening face-off and had a few chances to get on the board, but could not find a breakthrough in a 2-0 loss to the Wolverines. Junior goalie Brian Ireland was the standout for the Hawks with 36 saves.
“They’re a very good team,” said Milford coach Mike Balzarini, “and I was explaining to our guys that they’re the number one seed for a reason. We didn’t come into this game succumbing to them already…but to limit those guys to two goals in a game was huge.”
He added, “I thought we hung in there and played really well.”
Westwood outshot the Hawks 12-3 in the opening period to set a pattern for the game. The Wolverines had the majority of the puck possession and spent long periods in the offensive zone, but struggled to build clear-cut chances against a stingy Milford defense.
“[Westwood] did a great job of staying at the blue line,” said Balzarini about his team’s struggle to get the puck out of the zone at times. “It seemed like every time that we had the puck there was one forward and one defenseman on our puck carrier.”
The Hawks also manufactured a couple of chances in transition, including one in the first period that fell to freshman Aidan Wilde that he was unable to finish past Westwood goalie Chris Dyson.
“We wanted to spread out the neutral zone and take a chance to get their defense to back up, but they had back pressure,” explained Balzarini about Milford’s attempts to leave a forward high and hit them with quick outlet passes.
The pressure would pay off early for Westwood with leading scorer Ken Mackin redirecting a shot from the point by R.J. Messineo past Ireland to open the scoring with eight minutes remaining in the first. It would be the lone goal of the period for the Wolverines.
In the second, a giveaway in the neutral zone led to a breakaway for Mackin but this time the Westwood captain was robbed by a great glove save from Ireland. It was one in a series of big plays by the netminder to give the Hawks a shot at the upset.
Balzarini said, “It started really in the Canton game this past Monday. His focus leading up to that final game was tremendous. He’s really kept us in the last three games; he’s been tremendous.”
With 6:48 remaining in the second, Westwood doubled its lead. Joe Reissfelder drove to the net and sophomore forward Sam Murphy was on hand to punch in the rebound.
The expected push from the Wolverines to put the game away never materialized and Milford had one very good chance in the final seconds of the second when Nick Mobilia fed a charging Alec Gilliat, the overtime hero against North, but the sophomore’s shot sailed over the bar.
“That’s one of the key points that we were talking about before the game was making sure that the first two minutes and the last two minutes of every period are crucial,” said Balzarini. “It kind of carried over to the third period with the momentum, but we kind of ran out of gas at the end.”
The third period was more balanced with Milford getting five shots on goal, but Dyson was only forced into one big stop and that was on Mobilia five minutes into the third.
Balzarini reflected, “They did a good job moving the puck and getting pucks to the net. Would I have liked to see us be a little quicker getting off the points? Yes, but overall I’m really pleased."
Although Westwood skated to the victory and the Hawks were eliminated, Balzarini was upbeat about the progress that was made this season -- most notably the first round win.
“It really speaks volumes on behalf of the kids to really buy into our system and just focus on the task at hand and making sure everyone is on the same page,” he said. “This is our third year in the Hockomock and we’ve made the playoffs all three years and to get a win in Franklin against our rival, North Attleboro, was huge.”
“Being with them on the ice day-in, day-out, and off the ice at pasta dinners and things like that, it’s great to see them come together.”
Josh Perry can be contacted at [email protected] and followed on Twitter at @Josh_Perry10.